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- aging (3)
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Past research suggests that age differences in measures of cognitive speed contribute to differences in intellectual functioning between young and old adults. To investigate whether speed also predicts age-related differences in intellectual performance beyond age 70 years, tests indicating 5 intellectual abilities—speed, reasoning, memory, knowledge, and fluency—were administered to a close-to-representative, age-stratified sample of old and very old adults. Age trends of all 5 abilities were well described by a negative linear function. The speed-mediated effect of age fully explained the relationship between age and both the common and the specific variance of the other 4 abilities. Results offer strong support for the speed hypothesis of old age cognitive decline but need to be qualified by further research on the reasons underlying age differences in measures of speed.
Using a testing-the-limits paradigm, the authors investigated the modulation (attenuation) o f negative adult age differences in imagery-based memory performance as a function of professional expertise. Six older graphic designers, 6 normal older adults, 6 younger graphic design students, and 6 normal younger students participated in a 19-session program with a cued-recall variant of the Method of Loci. Older graphic designers attained higher levels o f mnemonic performance than normal older adults but were not able to reach younger adults' level of performance; a perfect separation of age groups was achieved. Spatial visualization was a good predictor of mnemonic performance. Results suggest that negative adult age differences in imagery-based memory are attenuated but not eliminated by the advantages associated with criterion-relevant ability (talent) and experience.
A model for correct recall and intrusions in cued recall of word lists is introduced. Intrusions are false responses that were correct in an earlier list. The model assumes 3 exclusive states for memory traces after encoding: with a list tag (i.e., with information about list origin), without list tags, and missing. Across lists, a trace can lose its list tag or its content. For retrieval, an optimal strategy of response selection was assumed. Younger and older laboratory-trained mnemonists participated in 2 experiments in which recall of permutations of a single word list across a single set of cues was held constant with individually adjusted presentation times. With correct recall equated to younger adults, older adults were more susceptible to intrusions. Age differences were restricted to model parameters estimating the probability of generation of list tags. Alternative accounts of age differences in context memory are discussed.
Older adults often experience hearing difficulties in multitalker situations. Attentional control of auditory perception is crucial in situations where a plethora of auditory inputs compete for further processing. We combined an intensity-modulated dichotic listening paradigm with attentional manipulations to study adult age differences in the interplay between perceptual saliency and attentional control of auditory processing. When confronted with two competing sources of verbal auditory input, older adults modulated their attention less flexibly and were more driven by perceptual saliency than younger adults. These findings suggest that aging severely impairs the attentional regulation of auditory perception.