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): G53D23007250001

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.

• 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., Petriglia, F., D’Ortenzio, S., Bosco, F. M., & Gasparotto, G. (under review). Unveiling the dynamics of discourse production in healthy aging and its connection to cognitive skills. 

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

• Marini, A., Petriglia, F., D’Ortenzio, S., Gabbatore, I., & Gasparotto, G. (under review). Cognitive reserve effects on discourse production processing in healthy aging. 

• Petriglia, F., D’Ortenzio, S., Gabbatore, I., Gasparotto, G., & Marini, A. (in progress). Lexical diversity in healthy aging: An exploratory study.

• 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 (accepted), Turin, September 11-13.

• 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 (accepted), Cambridge, September 17-19.

• 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, 23–25 October, Paris, France (pp. 1–4). https://doi.org/10.36505/ExLing-2024/15

• 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., & 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).

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

• Utilità clinica della valutazione multilivello dell’eloquio narrativo nella caratterizzazione dei disturbi linguistici. (Marini, invited speaker). Biomarker linguistici digitali per lo screening del declino cognitivo, Accademia delle Scienze, Bologna, 13 marzo 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. (Marini, A.) 12th ESLA Congress of Speech and Language Therapy, Bruges (Belgium), 26–28 September 2024.

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

• An examination of story-type effect on the assessment of age-related differences in narrative discourse production. (Gasparotto, G., Petriglia, F., D’Ortenzio, S., & Marini, A.) ExLing 2024, 15th International Conference of Experimental Linguistics, Paris, France, 23–25 October 2024.

• How a multilevel procedure of discourse analysis unveils the relation between inhibitory control and lexical informativeness on a story production task in healthy aging. (Marini, A.) 12th ESLA Congress of Speech and Language Therapy, Bruges (Belgium), 26–28 September 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. (Marini, A.) 2024 Annual Meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse (ST&D), Chicago, IL, USA, July 17–19.

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

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

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