Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Concepts are flexible and vary depending on multiple factors. Here, we investigate age cohort conceptual variations using the two domains of ecology (e.g., "deforestation") and technology (e.g., "web") as case examples. 320 Italian older adults (>64 years) evaluated 50 concepts per domain across 39 semantic dimensions. Their ratings were compared with those of younger adults (18–35 years) reported in Falcinelli et al. (2024a). Results revealed clear generational differences: representations were more complex and concrete for ecological concepts in older adults, and for technological concepts in younger adults. Additionally, older adults showed greater personal experience with ecological topics, while younger adults reported higher familiarity with technology. Theoretically, our findings support evidence regarding differences in conceptualizations across age cohorts. Scientifically, the resulting O-TECo database provides the first semantic norms tailored to older adults. Societally, results highlight the importance of age tailored interventions in these two crucial fields.