From Green to Technology: Age Group Variability in Conceptual Complexity and Concreteness

Concepts are widely recognized as flexible and shaped by multiple factors. Here, we investigate how conceptual representations differ across age groups by focusing on four timely domains—ecological, geo, natural (which we labeled altogether green), and technological. Replicating a previous study, we collected ratings from 320 Italian older adults (aged >64) on 50 concepts per domain across 39 semantic dimensions targeting different conceptual aspects (e.g., sensorimotor, sociopolitical, inner, emotional). We then compared these ratings with those from younger adults (aged 18–35) collected in the earlier study.Results revealed strong semantic proximity among green concepts and a clear separation between them (especially natural) and the technological ones. The internal semantic composition of each domain revealed clear age group differences. Within the green domains, older adults exhibited richer, more multifaceted, and more concrete conceptual representations than younger adults, with fine-grained divergences across green concepts. In contrast, no age group differences emerged in the complexity of technological concept representations; however, younger adults characterized this domain more concretely.These differences were closely linked to self-reported domain experience and familiarity: older adults reported greater personal experience with ecological topics, whereas younger adults reported higher familiarity with technology.Theoretically, our findings suggest that conceptual complexity and concreteness vary across domains and are shaped by age group membership and all that it entails. Scientifically, the resulting O-TECo database provides the first semantic norms tailored to older adults. Societally, results highlight the need for age-sensitive interventions to foster engagement with environmental policies and responsible technology use.