Age-Related Differences in the Effects of Linguistic and Nonlinguistic Masking on Semantic Processing: Evidence From the N400 Component in Young and Middle-Aged Listeners.

Our findings illustrated age-related differences during a semantic processing task, as indexed by the N400, that may not be evident in suprathreshold speech repetition/recognition tasks or behavioral data. Additionally, N400 amplitudes indicated that linguistic masking effects were equivalent to nonlinguistic masking effects on semantic processing.