Tested comprehension of syntactic structures by presenting each structure with both plausible and implausible content. Results revealed that cognitive nonlinguistic factors were important for comprehension and that errors and reaction time increased with age. The minimal contribution of neuropsychological factors to this decline suggests that the…

Describes two studies of which one analyzes syntactic complexity in writing samples by secondary and postsecondary students, while the other correlates the syntactic dimensions revealed by the former with measures of cognitive style. Correlations indicate an association between complexity and analytic cognitive style. (MES)