A meaningful sentence might not be sensible according to world knowledge. In aging, world knowledge continues to increase, but semantic processing declines. An intriguing question is whether increased world knowledge aids world knowledge comprehension, even in the face of declining semantic processing. The present study collected EEG data from 43 older and 43 younger adults as they read correct sentences, sentences with a semantic violation, and sentences with a world knowledge violation. Compared to younger adults, older adults had a significantly greater reduction in amplitude and delayed peak/onset latency of N400 for both semantic and world knowledge integration. A significant Group by Condition by Region interaction revealed that, although the N400 amplitude under the semantic violation condition was comparable to that under the world knowledge violation condition in younger adults, the N400 amplitude in the posterior brain region was significantly smaller under the world knowledge violation condition than under the semantic violation condition in older adults. The N400 difference between world knowledge and semantic violation conditions was negatively correlated only with vocabulary scores. In conclusion, age-related increases in world knowledge do not help older adults to comprehend world knowledge more effectively.

中文翻译：

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一项ERP研究表明，老年人世界知识的增加不会阻止世界知识理解的下降。

根据世界知识，有意义的句子可能并不明智。随着年龄的增长，世界知识继续增加，但语义处理却下降。一个有趣的问题是，即使面对语义处理的下降，世界知识的增加是否有助于世界知识的理解。本研究收集了43位年龄较大的成年人和43位较年轻的成年人的EEG数据，他们阅读正确的句子，具有语义违规的句子以及具有世界知识违规的句子。与年轻人相比，对于语义和世界知识整合而言，老年人的N400振幅降低更大，并且延迟了N400的峰值/发作潜伏期。一项重要的“按地区分组”互动显示，尽管在年轻人中，在语义违背条件下的N400幅度与在世界知识违背条件下的幅度可比，但在世界知识违背条件下，后脑区域的N400幅度显着小于在成年人中在语义违背条件下。世界知识和语义违反条件之间的N400差异仅与词汇分数负相关。总之，与年龄相关的世界知识的增长并不能帮助老年人更有效地理解世界知识。世界知识和语义违反条件之间的N400差异仅与词汇分数负相关。总之，与年龄相关的世界知识的增长并不能帮助老年人更有效地理解世界知识。世界知识和语义违反条件之间的N400差异仅与词汇分数负相关。总之，与年龄相关的世界知识的增长并不能帮助老年人更有效地理解世界知识。