The irrelevant speech effect among younger and older adults: The influence of background noises on reading comprehension.

BACKGROUND: Aging could exacerbate the decreases in cognitive functioning already caused by noise pollution. According to the inhibitory deficit hypothesis, older adults have more difficulty than do younger adults keeping irrelevant information from interfering with processing of relevant information. However, irrelevant speech studies typically fail to support this hypothesis. The present study aimed to quantify the effects of age and noise pollution on reading comprehension. METHODS: Seventeen younger (age 21-29) and 15 older (age 62-77) adults completed a reading task (reading discourse material for a follow-up comprehension test) in the presence of six irrelevant background noise conditions. Repeated measures ANOVAs and t tests were used to analyze participant accuracy on the follow-up comprehension tests. RESULTS: Contrary to the inhibitory deficit hypothesis, but congruent with previous irrelevant speech studies, younger and older adults did not have significantly different reading comprehension scores, and both groups' accuracy was greatest when asked to read in silence. Noise conditions that contained English speech, regardless of whether this background noise was spoken or sung, were most disruptive. CONCLUSION: Younger and older adults appear to be equally influenced by irrelevant background material when reading. Regardless of age, reading in a distraction-free environment whenever possible is the best way to maximize reading comprehension.

Health, Anticipated Partner Infidelity, and Jealousy in Men and Women.

Health has been identified as an important variable involved in mate choice. Unhealthy organisms are generally less able to provide reproductively important resources to partners and offspring and are more likely to pass on communicable disease. Research on human mate preferences has shown that both men and women prefer healthy mates. Yet to date, little research has examined how health relates to one's own mating experiences. In the present study, 164 participants (87 women) who were currently in heterosexual romantic relationships completed measures of frequency and severity of health problems, anticipated partner infidelity, and intensity of jealousy felt in their current relationship. Mediation analyses showed that health problems predicted greater anticipated partner infidelity and jealousy scores and that anticipated partner infidelity mediated the links between health and jealousy for both frequency and severity of health problems, controlling for both sex and relationship duration. These findings suggest that unhealthy people perceive themselves to be at a mating disadvantage, experiencing associated differences in perceptions and emotions surrounding their romantic partners' fidelity.