Comparison of Information-Processing Capacities in Young and Aged Subjects Using Reaction Times

Older subjects are compared to younger subjects on four reaction time tasks. Utilizing a model proposed by Teichner and Krebs (1974), four simple tasks were evolved to estimate: simple reaction time, response selection, stimulus-response translation, and stimulus-stimulus translation. Results indicated that the time difference found between the elderly and young subjects on a simple RT task was relatively equivalent to the time differences found on tasks isolating the components of response selection and stimulus-response translation. However, on a task necessitating a stimulus-stimulus translation the elderly showed a significantly greater increment in RT than found on the previous three tasks. It was concluded that the elderly have no relative difficulty making judgments in terms of the number of response choices and when the information for a judgment has direct relevance to the response choice. When the information for a judgment does not have direct relevance to the decision, it is difficult for elderly persons to use this information adequately.