TY - GEN A1 - Baltes, Paul B. A1 - Dittmann-Kohli, Freya A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold T1 - Reserve capacity of the elderly in aging-sensitive tests of fluid intelligence : replication and extension N2 - Fluid intelligence belongs to that cluster of intellectual abilities evincing aging loss. To examine further the range of intellectual reserve available to aging individuals and the question of replicability in a new cultural and laboratory setting, 204 healthy older adults (mean age = 72 years; range = 60-86) participated in a short-term longitudinal training study. For experimental subjects, 10 sessions consisted of cognitive training involving two subability tests (Figural Relations, Induction) of fluid intelligence. The pattern of outcomes replicates and expands on earlier studies. Older adults have the reserve to evince substantial increases in levels of performance in fluid intelligence tests. Transfer of training, however, is narrow in scope. Training also increases accuracy of performance and the ability to solve more difficult test items. Difficulty level was estimated in a separate study, with a comparable sample of N = 112 elderly adults. Future research is suggested to examine whether intellectual reserve extends to near-maximum levels of performance. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - paper 143 Y1 - 1986 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-39939 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Baltes, Paul B. A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold T1 - On the dynamics between growth and decline in the aging of intelligence and memory N2 - Content: - Different Intellectual Abilities Age Differently - Cultural Change and Interindividual Variability in Aging - Cognitive Intervention Research on Plasticity in Old Age * Psychological Evidence * Brain-Physiological Evidence - Age Differences and Testing-the-Limits - Conclusions - Summary T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - paper 171 Y1 - 1986 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-41116 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Baltes, Paul B. A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold T1 - Further testing of limits of cognitive plasticity : negative age differences in a mnemonic skill are robust N2 - Earlier testing-the-limits research on age differences in cognitive plasticity of a memory skill was extended by 18 additional assessment and training sessions to explore whether older adults were able to catch up with additional practice and improved training conditions. The focus was on the method of loci, which requires mental imagination to encode and retrieve lists of words from memory in serial order. Of the original 37 subjects, 35 (16 young, ranging from 20 to 30 years of age, and 19 older adults, ranging from 66 to 80 years of age) participated in the follow-up study. Older adults showed sizable performance deficits when compared with young adults and tested for limits of reserve capacity. The negative age difference was substantial, resistant to extensive practice, and applied to all subjects studied. The primary origin for this negative age difference may be a loss in the production and use of mental imagination for operations of the mind. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - paper 159 Y1 - 1992 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-40373 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Baltes, Paul B. A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold A1 - Dittmann-Kohli, Freya T1 - On the locus of training gains in research on the plasticity of fluid intelligence in old age N2 - Cognitive training research has shown that many older adults have a substantial reserve capacity in fluid intelligence. Little is known, however, about the locus of plasticity. Two studies were conducted to examine whether training gains in fluid abilities are critically dependent on experimenter-guided training and/or whether older adults can achieve similar improvements by themselves on the basis of cognitive skills already available in their repertoire. Several comparisons were made: (a) between test performances after trainer-guided training in ability-specific cognitive skills and after self-guided retest practice (without feedback), (b) between performances under speeded and power conditions of assessment, (c) between performances on easy and difficult items, and (d) between the relative numbers of correct and wrong answers. Results suggest that a large share of the training improvement shown by the elderly can plausibly be explained as the result of the activation and practice of cognitive skills already available in their repertoire. The results also have implications for educational practice, pointing to the appropriateness of strategies of self-directed learning for many elderly adults. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - paper 151 Y1 - 1988 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-40288 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Baltes, Paul B. A1 - Sowarka, Doris A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold T1 - Cognitive training research on fluid intelligence in old age : what can older adults achieve by themselves? N2 - Cognitive research on the plasticity of fluid intelligence has demonstrated that older adults benefit markedly from guided practice in cognitive skills and problem-solving strategies. We examined to what degree older adults are capable by themselves of achieving similar practice gains, focusing on the fluid ability of figural relations. A sample of 72 healthy older adults was assigned randomly to three conditions: control, tutor-guided training, self-guided training. Training time and training materials were held constant for the two training conditions. Posttraining performances were analyzed using a transfer of training paradigm in terms of three indicators: correct responses, accuracy, and level of item difficulty. The training programs were effective and produced a significant but narrow band of within-ability transfer. However, there was no difference between the two training groups. Older adults were shown to be capable of producing gains by themselves that were comparable to those obtained following tutor-guided training in the nature of test-relevant cognitive skills. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - paper 152 Y1 - 1989 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-40297 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Dittmann-Kohli, Freya A1 - Lachmann, Margie E. A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold A1 - Baltes, Paul B. T1 - Effects of cognitive training and testing on intellectual efficacy beliefs in elderly adults N2 - Elderly adults (N = 116; average age = 73 years) were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups varying in the amount of training and testing on fluid intelligence tests. They were compared before and after treatment on self-efficacy and utility beliefs for intelligence tests and everyday competence. Although both ability training and extended retest practice resulted in significant gains in objective test performance (Baltes, Kliegl, & Dittmann-Kohli, 1988), only ability training resulted in positive changes in self-efficacy. However, these changes were restricted to testrelated self-efficacy. Training had no impact on perceived utility or on everyday self-efficacy beliefs. Implications of the results are discussed with regard to interventions to increase intellectual self-efficacy in elderly persons. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - paper 157 Y1 - 1991 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-40351 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold A1 - Baltes, Paul B. T1 - Theory-guided analysis of mechanisms of development and aging through testing-the-limits and research on expertise N2 - Content: 1 Introduction 2 Theoretical background - Expertise and Reserve Capacity - Testing-the-Limits and Research on Expertise - Cognitive Processes and Knowledge - Age Comparisons of Peak Performance - Advantages of Constructed Versus Naturally Acquired Expertise - Hypotheses Related to Aging and Expertise: Toward Magnification and Identification of Age Differences and Aging-Sensitive Components 3 Theory-guided synthesis of memory expertise - Theoretical Framework - Procedure - Subjects - Results 4 Adaptivity testing of expert memory - Increasing Task Difficulty Within an Extant System - Selective Componential Interference - Toward the Study of Compensatory Processes 5 Conclusions T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - paper 149 Y1 - 1987 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-40265 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold A1 - Smith, Jacqui A1 - Baltes, Paul B. T1 - Testing-the-limits and the study of adult age differences in cognitive plasticity of a mnemonic skill N2 - Investigated the range and limits of cognitive reserve capacity as a general approach to the understanding of age differences in cognitive functioning. Testing-the-limits is proposed as a research strategy, Data are reported from 2 training studies involving old (65 to 83 years old) and young adults (19 to 29 years old). The training, designed to engineer an expertise in serial word recall, involved instruction and practice in the Method of Loci. Substantial plasticity was evident in pretest to posttest comparisons. Participants raised their serial word recall several times above that of pretest baseline. Age-differential limits in reserve capacity were evident in amount of training gain but not in responses to conditions of increased test difficulty (speeded stimulus presentation). Group differences were magnified by the training to such a degree that age distributions barely overlapped at posttests. Testing-the-limits offers promise in terms of understanding the extent and nature of cognitive plasticity. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - paper 153 Y1 - 1989 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-40311 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold A1 - Smith, Jacqui A1 - Baltes, Paul B. T1 - Testing-the-limits, expertise, and memory in adulthood and old age N2 - This research has three interrelated foci: (i) engineering and testing a cognitive model of expert memory, (ii) the study of intellectual reserve capacity and (iii) the use of a testing-the-limits methodology to magnify and delineate age differences in limits of reserve capacity. The assumption is that age differences are magnified if studied at high levels of expertise or task difficulty. Results from age-comparative point training studies in expert memory are reported. Both young and elderly subjects reached high levels of skilled memory, confirming the model. However, despite this sizeable reserve capacity, when compared to IQ-eguivalent young adults, superior elderly showed decline in upper limits of function. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - paper 147 Y1 - 1986 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-39063 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kliegl, Reinhold A1 - Smith, Jacqui A1 - Baltes, Paul B. T1 - On the locus and process of magnification of age differences during mnemonic training N2 - The focus of this study was on developmental reserve capacity in old age as revealed by testing-thelimits. We examined (a) the time course of training-related magnification of age differences in serial word recall and (b) predictability of training gains by pretest individual differences in cognitive abilities. In 20 sessions, young (n = 18) and old (n = 19) adults were taught to recall lists of 30 words using the Method of Loci. Age differences were magnified early in practice at long presentation times (20 s and 15 s per word) and later at 5 s per word. Regression of posttraining scores on various pretraining abilities revealed significant effects of digit symbol substitution. Also, consistent with the assumption of age-related decline in developmental reserve capacity, the unique variance in serial word recall associated with age group became more salient as the training unfolded. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - paper 155 Y1 - 1990 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-40336 ER -