Speed and intelligence in old age.

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.

[1]  Paul B. Baltes,et al.  Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology : On the dynamics between growth and decline , 1987 .

[2]  T. Salthouse,et al.  Influence of processing speed on adult age differences in working memory. , 1992, Acta psychologica.

[3]  Patrick Rabbitt,et al.  Aging, cognitive performance, and mental speed , 1992 .

[4]  S. D. Lima,et al.  General slowing in semantic priming and word recognition. , 1992, Psychology and aging.

[5]  J. Cerella,et al.  Lexical Access and Age. , 1984 .

[6]  K. Warner Schaie,et al.  Perceptual speed in adulthood: cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. , 1989, Psychology and aging.

[7]  J R Nesselroade,et al.  Reporting structural equation modeling results in Psychology and Aging: some proposed guidelines. , 1991, Psychology and aging.

[8]  R. Dixon,et al.  Intraindividual change in text recall of the elderly , 1992, Brain and Language.

[9]  Leonard S. Cahen,et al.  Educational Testing Service , 1970 .

[10]  John R. Nesselroade,et al.  Integration versus differentiation of fluid/crystallized intelligence in old age , 1980 .

[11]  W. L. Milligan,et al.  Some determinants of attrition in prospective studies on aging. , 1990, Experimental aging research.

[12]  Christopher Hertzog,et al.  Influences of cognitive slowing on age differences in intelligence. , 1989 .

[13]  D. Hultsch,et al.  Age differences in cognitive performance in later life: relationships to self-reported health and activity life style. , 1993, Journal of gerontology.

[14]  A. Paivio,et al.  Concreteness, imagery, and meaningfulness values for 925 nouns. , 1968, Journal of experimental psychology.

[15]  F. Post,et al.  Behavior, aging and the nervous system , 1966 .

[16]  J. Horn.  The Theory of Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence in Relation to Concepts of Cognitive Psychology and Aging in Adulthood , 1982 .

[17]  R Kliegl,et al.  Professional expertise does not eliminate age differences in imagery-based memory performance during adulthood. , 1992, Psychology and aging.

[18]  D. Wechsler.  WAIS-R manual : Wechsler adult intelligence scale-revised , 1981 .

[19]  K. Schaie,et al.  Structural Invariance of Cognitive Abilities across the Adult Life Span: A Cross-Sectional Study. , 1989 .

[20]  M. W. Riley,et al.  Aging and society , 1968 .

[21]  T. Salthouse.  Mediation of Adult Age Differences in Cognition by Reductions in Working Memory and Speed of Processing , 1991 .

[22]  R Kliegl,et al.  Sequential and coordinative complexity: age-based processing limitations in figural transformations. , 1993, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[23]  Paul B. Baltes,et al.  Age and experimental mortality in a seven-year longitudinal study of cognitive behavior , 1971 .

[24]  David M. Lane,et al.  Information processing components of substitution test performance. , 1985 .

[25]  C. Hertzog,et al.  Stability and change in adult intelligence: 2. Simultaneous analysis of longitudinal means and covariance structures. , 1988, Psychology and aging.

[26]  John L. Horn,et al.  Apprehension, Memory, and Fluid Intelligence Decline in Adulthood , 1981 .

[27]  A. Welford.  Between bodily changes and performance: some possible reasons for slowing with age. , 1984, Experimental aging research.

[28]  C. Hertzog,et al.  Stability and change in adult intelligence: 1. Analysis of longitudinal covariance structures. , 1986, Psychology and aging.

[29]  R. P. McDonald,et al.  Goodness-of-fit indexes in confirmatory factor analysis : The effect of sample size , 1988 .

[30]  Ruth B. Ekstrom,et al.  Manual for kit of factor-referenced cognitive tests , 1976 .

[31]  R. Dixon,et al.  Short-term longitudinal change in cognitive performance in later life. , 1992, Psychology and aging.

[32]  T. Salthouse,et al.  Speed and knowledge as determinants of adult age differences in verbal tasks. , 1993, Journal of gerontology.

[33]  Reinhold Kliegl,et al.  On the locus and process of magnification of age differences during mnemonic training. , 1990 .

[34]  T. Salthouse.  Adult cognition : an experimental psychology of human aging / Timothy A. Salthouse , 1982 .

[35]  Reinhold Kliegl,et al.  Testing-the-Limits and the Study of Adult Age Differences in Cognitive Plasticity of a Mnemonic Skill , 1989 .

[36]  T. Salthouse.  A Theory of Cognitive Aging , 1985 .

[37]  M. Powell Lawton,et al.  Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics , 1988, Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

[38]  J. Cerella.  Information processing rates in the elderly. , 1985, Psychological bulletin.

[39]  Peter M. Bentler,et al.  EQS : structural equations program manual , 1989 .

[40]  T. Salthouse.  Why do adult age differences increase with task complexity , 1992 .

[41]  J J McArdle,et al.  Age-based construct validation using structural equation modeling. , 1992, Experimental aging research.

[42]  J. Myerson,et al.  The information-loss model: a mathematical theory of age-related cognitive slowing. , 1990, Psychological review.

[43]  Ulrich Mayr,et al.  Age-based performance limitations in figural transformations: the effect of task complexity and practice , 1993 .

[44]  P. Rabbitt,et al.  Age, Information Processing Speed, and Intelligence , 1994, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[45]  S. D. Lima,et al.  How general is general slowing? Evidence from the lexical domain. , 1991, Psychology and aging.

[46]  T. Salthouse.  Resource-reduction interpretations of cognitive aging☆ , 1988 .

[47]  Reinhold Kliegl,et al.  Further Testing of Limits of Cognitive Plasticity: Negative Age Differences in a Mnemonic Skill Are Robust , 1992 .

[48]  P. Baltes,et al.  Life-Span Developmental Psychology: Research and Theory , 1970 .

[49]  E. Borgatta,et al.  Research on Aging , 1979 .

[50]  M. Woodbury,et al.  A mathematical model of the physiological dynamics of aging and correlated mortality selection: II. Application to the Duke Longitudinal Study. , 1983, Journal of gerontology.

[51]  J. Birren,et al.  Handbook of the psychology of aging, 3rd ed. , 1985 .

[52]  Paul B. Baltes,et al.  The Berlin Aging Study (BASE): Overview and Design , 1993, Ageing and Society.

[53]  J. Cerella.  Aging and Information-Processing Rate , 1990 .

[54]  S. Breckler,et al.  Applications of covariance structure modeling in psychology: cause for concern? , 1990, Psychological bulletin.

[55]  Joseph M. Fitzgerald,et al.  A developmental study of recall from natural categories. , 1983 .

[56]  J. Botwinick,et al.  A long-term longitudinal study of intellectual ability of older adults: the matter of selective subject attrition. , 1979, Journal of gerontology.

[57]  Sandra E. Trehub,et al.  Aging and cognitive processes , 1982 .

[58]  T. Salthouse,et al.  Decomposing adult age differences in working memory. , 1991 .

[59]  James E. Birren,et al.  The psychology of aging. , 1966 .

[60]  J J McArdle,et al.  Structural modeling of mixed longitudinal and cross-sectional data. , 1991, Experimental aging research.

[61]  K. Heller,et al.  Kognitiver Fähigkeits-Test , 1983 .

[62]  M. Eysenck.  Retrieval from semantic memory as a function of age. , 1975, Journal of gerontology.

[63]  G. Reinert.  Comparative Factor Analytic Studies of Intelligence throughout The Human Life-Span , 1970 .

[64]  W. Cunningham.  Age Comparative Factor Analysis of Ability Variables in Adulthood and Old Age. , 1980 .

[65]  Denise C. Park,et al.  Handbook of the Psychology of Aging , 1979 .