Group differences in suppression skill

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Abstract
It is proposed that there are group differences in suppression skill, and one such grouping is the distinction between more versus less skilled university-aged comprehenders. Experiments supporting this proposal and demonstrating that university-aged adults differ in their ability to suppress irrelevant, inappropriate, potentially interfering information are reviewed. Many of these experiments have been replicated with other groups, which also hypothetically differ in their ability to suppress inappropriate information. Two new sets of experiments are reviewed. In one, the prediction that less skilled comprehenders- because they are less skilled at suppression- should be better at comprehending puns is evaluated. In the other, the prediction that less skilled comprehenders- because they are less skilled at suppression- are better able to shift to a different meaning of a homonym is evaluated. Both sets of data are evaluated with respect to a general slowing explanation and scaling artifacts.

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