Enhancing Pragmatic Communication in Healthy Aging: A Preliminary Investigation of the Long-Term Effects of the Advanced Cognitive Pragmatic Treatment.
Gabbatore I, Vegna G, et al. • Journal of psycholinguistic research • 2026
The Advanced Cognitive Pragmatic Treatment (Advanced-CPT) produced significant improvements in overall pragmatic performance in healthy older adults that were maintained at a three-month follow-up, with gains confined to the pragmatic domain rather than broader cognitive or Theory of Mind functions.
Key Findings
Results
Participants showed significant improvement in overall pragmatic performance from pre- to post-training, which was maintained at three-month follow-up.
Twenty-four healthy participants aged 65-86 years completed the nine-week group training
Assessments were conducted immediately before training, immediately after training, and at a three-month follow-up
Overall pragmatic performance improved significantly from pre- to post-training
Gains remained detectable at the three-month follow-up assessment
Results
Significant improvements were observed in both pragmatic comprehension and pragmatic production following the Advanced-CPT.
The training targeted different expressive modalities including linguistic, extralinguistic, and paralinguistic means, as well as sensitivity to context
Both comprehension and production dimensions of pragmatic ability showed significant pre- to post-training gains
The Advanced-CPT is described as a novel training program designed to improve pragmatic performance in healthy older adults
Results
Significant improvements were found in both linguistic and extralinguistic expressive means, but paralinguistic ability showed only a trend toward improvement that did not reach statistical significance.
Linguistic expressive modality showed significant improvement
Paralinguistic ability showed 'a trend towards enhancement' but 'changes did not reach statistical significance'
No significant change emerged in sensitivity to context
Results
Cognitive functions and Theory of Mind measures remained stable from pre- to post-training, indicating that improvements were confined to the pragmatic domain.
Cognitive functions assessed included attention, memory, processing speed, and executive functions
Theory of Mind (ToM) was also evaluated pre- and post-training
Cognitive and ToM measures 'did not show comparable pre-post changes'
The authors state that 'the main improvements observed in the present study were confined to the pragmatic domain'
Stability of cognitive and ToM measures was described as expected, suggesting the training was specifically designed to target pragmatic ability
Methods
The study is characterized as preliminary, with a sample of 24 healthy older adults completing a nine-week group-based pragmatic training program.
Sample size was 24 healthy participants
Age range was 65-86 years
The training duration was nine weeks and delivered in a group format
The study is explicitly described as a 'preliminary investigation'
The findings are described as providing 'preliminary support for the potential of the Advanced-CPT'
What This Means
This research suggests that a structured nine-week group training program called the Advanced Cognitive Pragmatic Treatment (Advanced-CPT) can meaningfully improve the communication skills of healthy older adults. The program specifically targets pragmatic communication — the ability to use language appropriately in social situations — including both understanding others' communication and expressing oneself through words, gestures, and other non-verbal means. Twenty-four adults between the ages of 65 and 86 participated, and their pragmatic abilities were measured before the program, right after completing it, and again three months later.
The results showed that participants improved significantly in their overall ability to communicate pragmatically, and these gains were still present three months after the program ended. Improvements were seen in both understanding communication and producing it, and in both verbal (linguistic) and non-verbal (extralinguistic) aspects of communication. Improvements in tone of voice and other paralinguistic elements showed a positive trend but did not reach statistical significance, and no significant change was seen in sensitivity to social context. Importantly, general cognitive abilities like memory, attention, and executive function did not change, suggesting the program specifically strengthened communication skills rather than general mental performance.
This research matters because pragmatic communication abilities tend to decline with age and are important for maintaining independence and quality of life in older adults, yet have received relatively little attention in intervention research. The fact that gains were still measurable three months after training ended suggests the effects may be durable, though the authors note this is a preliminary study with a small sample, and larger controlled trials would be needed to confirm these findings.
Gabbatore I, Vegna G, Hilviu D, Merlini A, Bosco F. (2026). Enhancing Pragmatic Communication in Healthy Aging: A Preliminary Investigation of the Long-Term Effects of the Advanced Cognitive Pragmatic Treatment.. Journal of psycholinguistic research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-026-10291-4