General Cognitive Slowing in the Nonlexical Domain: An Experimental Validation (original) (raw)
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Aging, cognitive performance, and mental speed
Intelligence, 1992
Measures of four-choice reaction time (RT), inspection time (IT), and scores on a speeded coding-substitution task obtained from 104 subjects aged from 54 to 85 years were found, separately or together, to account for almost all age-related changes in cognitive performance on a number of performance indices reflecting general fluid ability. However, measures of information-processing speed did not entirely predict some aspects of memory performance. These correlations were not due to the inclusion of persons who had lower than average IQ scores or who were over 80 years old, or to the fact that some psychometric tests were scored to a time limit. The results also showed that higher intelligence does not serve to protect against the effects of aging, because rates of decline with age in scores on tests of spatial ability, and in memory and in information-processing tasks were the same within two subgroups selected for higher and lower verbal crystallized abilities.
Adult Age Differences in Cognitive Tempo
1979
The internal consistency reliability and discriminant validity et the adult version of the Matching Fariliar Figures Test (MFF) were determined fcr a sample spanning adulthood; age and sex differences were also investigated. Sixty-three men and 63 women ranging frcm 18 to 78 years of age, with at least 12 years of schooling, were administered Kagan's MFF and the vocabulary subtext of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (DAIS). While internal consistency reliability was high fcr the latency scores, it was only moderate fcr the error scores. As expected, error and latency seers were strongly related and were orthogonal to verbal ability. Results of a multivariate analysis of variance and follow up analyses indicated that older adults had significantly lcnger latencies than piddle-aged and younger adults. Reflectivity in elder adults was suggested to to part of a general pattern of sieving down in both cognitive and pscyhomotor activities. Therefore, further research aimed at modifying the ccgnitive tempo of young, middle-aged, and elder adults aas advocated. However, such research must be preceded by revision of the adult version of the MFF sc that it is more reliable. (Author/RD)
Task Specificity in Age-Related Slowing: Word Production Versus Conceptual Comparison
The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 2001
We analyzed age-related slowing in 29 younger (M ϭ 22 years) and 30 older adults (M ϭ 70 years) who performed a conceptual comparison task, a naming task, and a simple reaction time task. Both vocal and manual responses were elicited in all except the naming task. Results did not support the hypothesis that there is greater age-related slowing in comparison tasks than in production tasks. In contrast, we found an interaction between age and response modality in the conceptual comparison task. Response latencies of younger participants were shorter in the manual modality whereas those of older participants were shorter in the vocal modality. In the simple reaction time task manual responses were faster in the two age groups. These findings are discussed in relation to models assuming task-specific slowing factors.
The information-loss model: A mathematical theory of age-related cognitive slowing
Psychological Review, 1990
A model of cognitive slowing is proposed with the following assumptions: Information is lost during processing, processing occurs in discrete steps with step duration inversely related to the amount of information currently available, and the effect of aging is to increase the proportion of information lost per step. This model correctly predicts a positively accelerated relation between latencies of older and younger adults and provides a unified account of the effects of task complexity, practice, speed-accuracy tradeoffs, and fluctuations in individual performance. Strong support for the thesis that cognitive slowing is global, and not localized in specific age-sensitive components, is provided by the fact that the model accurately predicts the latencies of older adults on the basis of those of younger adults, without regard to the nature of the task, across a latency range of nearly 2 orders of magnitude.
Speed of information processing and age
Personality and Individual Differences, 1991
Young adults and adults who were 60yr or older were compared on measures of general intelligence. inspection time. reaction time and responding time. The intelligence test used was the Ravens Progressive Matrices and the inspection time. reaction time and responding time measures were calculated from a two choice reaction time task. Inspection time was determined by varying the duration of exposure of a stimulus prior to the onset of a mask consisting of both stimuli. Inspection time was measured as the shortest sttmulus duration at which a subject could identify a stimulus with near perfect accuracy. Responding time was then measured by setting the stimulus duration at each subject's individual inspection time and then reducing the time available to make a response prior to the onset of the next stimulus. Responding time was calculated as the shortest duration of the interval between the end of a stimulus and the onset of the next stimulus at which a subject could respond with near perfect accuracy. Reaction time was measured from the onset of the stimulus to the pressing of the response key in the respondrng ttme task. Two additional measures. termed response initiation time and checking and preparation time were calculated by subtracting inspection time from reaction time and response initiation time from responding time respectively. The old subjects were found to have lower intelligence test scores. longer inspectton times and longer checkmg and preparation times but not longer reaction times or response initiation times. These results suggest that age increases the time taken to input information correctly and to cheek the accuracy of the previous response and prepare for the next stimulus but that it has less elTcct on the time taken to initiate a response after correction identification of the stimulus.
British Journal of Psychology, 1996
Nettelbeck & Rabbitt (1992) found that measures of speed of performance with low knowledge requirements (four-choice reaction time, inspection time and codingsubstitution) accounted substantially for age-related changes among 104 persons aged from 54 to 85 years in a number of more complex cognitive measures reflecting general fluid ability. However, the numbers of words recalled from a list after either a single brief viewing of each word, or following a cumulative learning procedure across four trials, provided an exception to this general trend, leading to the conclusion that some aspects of memory may be independent of mental speed. A follow-up of 82 of the same people 18-20 months later was designed to partition performance in a similar cumulative learning procedure into an initial first recall component and a subsequent learning component. This was accomplished by fitting individual cumulative learning data with a hyperbolic power function which met the theoretical requirement of defining separate initial recall and learning parameters. These parameters were found to be independent and it was concluded that learning involved rehearsal, whereas first recall did not. The hyperbolic power function provided a good account for 92 per cent of individual cases. Analyses which combined Nettelbeck & Rabbitt's (1992) data with new measures confirmed the reliability of these authors' results. Furthermore, it was found that first recall, but not learning, was mediated by processing speed. Learning was relatively unaffected by age-related slowing in mental speed, suggesting that Nettelbeck & Rabbitt's results were the consequence of a strong rehearsal component in their memory tasks. Thus, while mental slowing is clearly one important aspect of cognitive decline during old age, it does not constitute a sufficient explanation for changes in all areas of cognitive functioning. Specifically, age-decline in rate of learning with rehearsal appeared to be independent of slowing in speed of information processing.
Cognitive Processing Speed across the Lifespan: Beyond the Influence of Motor Speed
Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
Traditional neuropsychological measurement of cognitive processing speed with tasks such as the Symbol Search and Coding subsets of the WAIS-IV, consistently show decline with advancing age. This is potentially problematic with populations where deficits in motor performance are expected, i.e., in aging or stroke populations. Thus, the aim of the current study was to explore the contribution of hand motor speed to traditional paper-and-pencil measures of processing speed and to a simple computer-customized non-motor perception decision task, the Inspection Time (IT) task. Participants were 67 young university students aged between 18 and 29 (59 females), and 40 older adults aged between 40 and 81 (31 females) primarily with a similar education profile. As expected, results indicated that age group differences were highly significant on the motor dexterity, Symbol Search and Coding tasks. However, no significant differences or correlations were seen between age groups and the simple visual perception IT task. Furthermore, controlling for motor dexterity did not remove significant age-group differences on the paper-and-pencil measures. This demonstrates that although much of past research into cognitive decline with age is confounded by use of motor reaction times as the operational measure, significant age differences in cognitive processing also exist on more complex tasks. The implications of the results are crucial in the realm of aging research, and caution against the use of traditional WAIS tasks with a clinical population where motor speed may be compromised, as in stroke.