Standardization of the Multilevel Procedure for Discourse Analysis and Training Program for Narrative Production in Healthy Adults (SMOOTH)

Research project title: Standardization of the Multilevel Procedure for Discourse Analysis and Training Program for Narrative Production in Healthy Adults (SMOOTH)

Call: PRIN 2022 PNRR Project, Protocol No. P2022M9JCM

Duration: 24 months (December 2023 – November 2025)

Founding Entity: PRIN 2022 PNRR M4C2 Inv. 1.1. Ministry of University and Research (Funded by the European Union, NextGenerationEU)

Unique Project Code (CUP): D53D23020730001

Funded Amount: €237,315.00

Involved Units:

1. University of Udine, Principal Investigator: Prof. Andrea Marini (PI)

2. University of Turin, Unit Coordinator: Prof. Francesca Marina Bosco

The project aims to:

• Identify the trajectories of decline in narrative discourse production skills during healthy aging by exploring their cognitive correlates.

• Standardize a multilevel assessment procedure for narrative speech in adulthood, which will be useful for accurately interpreting pathological conditions as well.

• Assess the possibility of enhancing narrative production abilities through targeted activities aimed at promoting narrative skills in healthy adults.

Since the project began, more than 600 healthy Italian-speaking adults have been recruited, divided into four age groups: Young adults (20–39 years), Middle-aged adults (40–59 years), Older adults (60–74 years), Elderly adults (75–89 years). Simultaneously, the University of Turin has recruited two cohorts of healthy elderly individuals to test the effectiveness of a program aimed at improving their narrative skills. Specifically, these individuals were divided into: 1. a cohort that underwent targeted experimental training; 2. a cohort that performed generic tasks not aimed at improving narrative skills.

Participants were assessed before (T0) and after (T1) the experimental or control program. Additionally, linguistic and cognitive tests for follow-up (T2) are currently underway. Results from the analyses conducted so far have led to various dissemination activities at national and international conferences and the drafting of several scientific articles currently under peer review.

• D’Ortenzio, S., Petriglia, F., Gasparotto, G., Andreetta, S., Gobbo, M., & Marini, A. (2025). Aging, Cognitive Efficiency, and Lifelong Learning: Impacts on Simple and Complex Sentence Production During Storytelling. Brain Sciences, 15(10), 1120. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15101120 

• Marini, A., Petriglia, F., D’Ortenzio, S., Bosco, F.M., & Gasparotto, G. (2025). Unveiling the dynamics of discourse production in healthy aging and its connection to cognitive skills. Discourse Processes, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853X.2025.2507548 

• Merlini, A., Gabbatore, I., Marini, A., Bosco, F.M. (2025). Affective and Cognitive Theory of Mind in aging: What’s the role of Executive Functions and Cognitive Reserve on the decline? Experimental aging research. https://doi.org/10.1080/0361073X.2025.2586970 

• Petriglia, F., Gasparotto, G., D’Ortenzio, S., Gabbatore, I., & Marini, A. (2025). Assessing lexical diversity and informativeness across the adult lifespan: A comprehensive investigation. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 4(3), 100276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100276 

• Marini, A. (2024). The usefulness of a multilevel procedure of discourse analysis in determining the characteristics of discourse production in healthy aging and their relation to attention and inhibitory control. EasyChair Preprint, n. 13915. https://easychair.org/publications/preprint/LN1s

• Marini, A. and Meneguzzi, F. (2025). New developments on language assessment in Aphasia: From traditional assessment to multilevel analyses of narrative discourse. In am Zehnoff-Dinnesen, A., Schindler, A., Zorowka, P.G. (Eds.). Phoniatrics III: Acquired Motor Speech and Language Disorders – Dysphagia – Phoniatrics and COVID-19. (pp. 208-211). Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-031-48090-4

• Gasparotto, G., Petriglia, F., D’Ortenzio, S., Bosco, F.M., & Marini, A. (2025). Story-type effects on the assessment of discourse production in healthy aging. under review

• Marini, A.; Petriglia, F.; D'ORtenzio, S.; Gasparotto, G.; Gabbatore, I. (2026). Cognitive reserve effects on discourse production processing in healthy aging. J. Neurolinguistics, 78 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2026.101315 

• D’Ortenzio, S., Gabbatore, I., Petriglia, F., Gasparotto, G., Vegna, G., Marini, A. & Bosco, F.M. (2025). Is narrative enhancement possible in healthy aging? A preliminary investigation into the effects of advanced training activities, under review

• Gobbo, M., Bosco, F.M., Marangolo, P., Andreetta, S., Tacchno, A., Marini, A. (2025). A narrative efficiency score for assessing micro- and macrolinguistic impairments in persons with acquired brain injuries, under review

• Gobbo, M., Gabbatore, I., Piovani, G., Bosco, F.M., Marini, A., & Tacchino, A. (2025). A multilevel linguistic analysis reveals linguistic impairments in persons with Multiple Sclerosis, under review

• Vegna, G., Gabbatore, I., Marini, A. & Bosco F.M. (2025). Can multimodal communicative-pragmatic difficulty reflect emerging cognitive vulnerability in subclinical aging? A MoCA-guided exploration, under review

• Marini, A. (2026). Una riflessione sul funzionamento  e declino delle abilità di produzione narrativa nell’arco dell’età adulta. Workshop: SMOOTH – Standardization of the Multilevel prOcedure for discOurse analysis and Training program for narrative production in Healthy adults. Udine 26 gennaio.

• Gabbatore, I. & Vegna, G. (2026). Potenziamento delle abilità  narrative nell’invecchiamento sano. Workshop: SMOOTH – Standardization of the Multilevel prOcedure for discOurse analysis and Training program for narrative production in Healthy adults. Udine 26 gennaio.

• Bosco, F. M. & Petriglia, F. (2026). L’interazione tra abilità pragmatiche e narrative nell’invecchiamento sano: una analisi multilivello. Workshop: SMOOTH – Standardization of the Multilevel prOcedure for discOurse analysis and Training program for narrative production in Healthy adults. Udine 26 gennaio.

• Merlini, A. (2026). Una analisi degli effetti dell’invecchiamento sano sulla Teoria della Mente affettiva e cognitiva: il contributo delle funzioni esecutive e della riserva cognitiva. Workshop: SMOOTH – Standardization of the Multilevel prOcedure for discOurse analysis and Training program for narrative production in Healthy adults. Udine 26 gennaio.

• Gobbo, M. (2026). Misurare l’efficienza narrativa: un indice per individuare alterazioni della macro- e micro-pianificazione linguistica nelle patologie cerebrali acquisite. Workshop: SMOOTH – Standardization of the Multilevel prOcedure for discOurse analysis and Training program for narrative production in Healthy adults. Udine 26 gennaio.

• D'Ortenzio, S. (2026). Declino grammaticale e complessità sintattica nell’età adulta: l’impatto del lifelong learning (LLL) sulla produzione di frasi in un compito di narrazione. Workshop: SMOOTH – Standardization of the Multilevel prOcedure for discOurse analysis and Training program for narrative production in Healthy adults. Udine 26 gennaio.

• Gasparotto, G. (2026). Il ruolo del tipo di stimolo nella valutazione del linguaggio narrativo. Workshop: SMOOTH – Standardization of the Multilevel prOcedure for discOurse analysis and Training program for narrative production in Healthy adults. Udine 26 gennaio.

• Vegna, G., Conterio, R., Gabbatore, I., Marini, A. & Bosco, F.M. (2025).  Communication, Social Appropriateness and Cognitive Vulnerability in Subclinical Aging. Can Multimodal Pragmatic Difficulty Reflect Emerging Cognitive Changes? The Aging & Social Change: Fifteenth Interdisciplinary Conference (Aging & Social Change 2025; Linköping University, Sweden, October 22-24).

• Marini, A. (2025). Utility of the Multilevel Procedure of Discourse Analysis in characterizing Language Disorders in Adults with language impairments: implications for assessment and therapy. Invited Plenary Lecture at the 7th Congress of Croatian Speech Language Therapists (Opatija, Croatia, October 16-19).

• Marini, A. (2025) How the standardized Multilevel procedure of discourse analysis unveils the trajectories of language decline in healthy aging and in persons with neurological disorders. Invited Lecture at McGill University & Montreal University (Montreal, Canada, October 2).

• Vegna, G., Conterio, R., Gabbatore, I. & Bosco, F.M. (2025).  Multilevel procedure for the assessment of pragmatic ability in aging: insights from Cognitive Impairment based on MoCA and cognitively unimpaired controls. The 11th Biennial Experimental Pragmatics Conference XPrag 2025 (XPRAG 2025; Cambridge, September 17-19).

• D'Ortenzio, S., Gabbatore, I., Marini, A., Gasparotto, G., Petriglia, F. & Bosco F.M. (2025). A preliminary assessment of the efficacy of a cognitive training to improve narrative skills in healthy aging. The 11th Biennial Experimental Pragmatics Conference XPrag 2025 (XPRAG 2025; Cambridge, September 17-19).

• Vegna, G., Conterio, R., Gabbatore, I. & Bosco, F.M. (2025).  Indagine multilivello dell’abilità pragmatica nella senilità: evidenze da persone con difficoltà cognitive riscontrate al MoCA e anziani normativi. XXXI Congresso annuale AIP Sperimentale 2025 (AIP sperimentale 2025; Turin, September 11-13).

• Gobbo, M. & Marini, A. (2025). A narrative efficiency score for assessing Micro- and Macro-Linguistic Impairments in patients with Acquired Brain Injuries. Science of Aphasia (Copenhagen, Denmark, September 15-18). 

• Marini, A., Gasparotto, G., D’Ortenzio, S., Petriglia, F. (2025). A standardized multilevel procedure od discourse analysis characterizes language impairments in patients with brain lesions. 33rd World Congress of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP; Malta, August 24-28). 

• Merlini. A., Boldi, A., Hilviu, D., Parola, A., Gabbatore, I., & Bosco, F.M. (2025). Unraveling Theory of Mind Decline: Disentangling the Role of Executive Functions in Social Cognition. Giornata del Dipartimento di Psicologia UniTo 2025, presentazione dottorandi 39°/40° ciclo, Turin, July 9th.

• Marini, A., Gasparotto, G., Petriglia, F. & D’Ortensio, S. (2025). Cognitive reserve effects on cognitive and discourse production processing in healthy aging. Agen2025, The 11th Asian Conference on Aging and Gerontology (Tokyo, Japan; March 24–29).

• Marini, A. (2025). Utilità clinica della valutazione multilivello dell’eloquio narrativo nella caratterizzazione dei disturbi linguistici. Invited speaker at Biomarker linguistici digitali per lo screening del declino cognitivo (Accademia delle Scienze, Bologna, March 13).

• Marini, A., Petriglia, F., Gasparotto, G., D’Ortenzio, S. & Bosco, F.M. (2025). Cognitive reserve effects on cognitive and discourse production processing in healthy aging. Winter Text & Discourse Conference 2025 (Boulder, Colorado, USA; February 3–5).

• Gasparotto, G., Petriglia, F., D’Ortenzio, S., & Marini, A. (2024). Does story-type affect the assessment of age-related differences in discourse production? Proceedings of the 15th International Conference of Experimental Linguistics (Paris, France, October 23–25)  pp. 1–4. https://doi.org/10.36505/ExLing-2024/15Marini, A. (2025). How a multilevel procedure of discourse analysis unveils the relation between inhibitory control and lexical informativeness on a story production task in healthy aging. 12th ESLA Congress of Speech and Language Therapy (Bruges, Belgium, September 26–28).

• Marini, A. (2024). The usefulness of a multilevel procedure of discourse analysis in determining the characteristics of discourse production in healthy aging and their relation to attention and inhibitory control. 2024 Annual Meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse (ST&D) (Chicago, IL, USA, July 17–19).  https://easychair.org/smart-program/STD2024/

• Marini, A. (2024). L’utilità della valutazione multilivello dell’eloquio narrativo per la corretta valutazione delle abilità linguistiche della persona afasica. Invited speaker at Convegno della Federazione Logopedisti Italiani (FLI) “La persona con afasia - Dalle evidenze scientifiche alla presa in carico logopedica”. Rome, June 14–15.

• Muò, R., Marini, A., & Reverberi, C. (2024). Prove pratiche di utilizzo di strumenti per la valutazione multilivello dell’eloquio afasico: analisi video di casi clinici. Convegno della Federazione Logopedisti Italiani (FLI) “La persona con afasia - Dalle evidenze scientifiche alla presa in carico logopedica”, Rome, June 14–15.

• Marini, A., & Bosco, F.M. (2024). L’utilità della valutazione multilivello dell’eloquio narrativo per determinare le caratteristiche dell’elaborazione linguistica in età senile. Atti del XVII Convegno Nazionale di Psicologia dell’invecchiamento (Società Italiana Psicologia Invecchiamento, S.I.P.I.), 31 maggio–1 giugno, Chieti (p. 41). 

• Interview on July 2, 2024 on Radio24, “Obiettivo Salute” – “Come l’invecchiamento influenza la comunicazione dopo i 75 anni” (See box at the end of the page)

• “Linguaggio e capacità cognitive. Ecco come cambiano a 75 anni” article published in “Il Messaggero veneto”, July 1, 2025. 

• “L’invecchiamento sano influenza il linguaggio e le capacità cognitive”, article published on the Sanità Informazione website, June 30, 2025.  Link

• “Linguaggio e invecchiamento, dai 75 anni cambia tutto: Lo studio dell’Università di Udine”. article published in “Il Piccolo” (Trieste), June 30, 2025.