Mental imagery and aging.

Young adult and elderly Ss performed 4 visual mental imagery tasks, each of which tapped different processes. The elderly had relatively impaired image rotation and image activation (the process of accessing and activating stored visual memories), and there was a hint that aging may impair the ability to maintain images. In contrast, the elderly were able to compose (the process of generating the segments of the shape, 1 by 1) and scan visual mental images as well as young adults. However, when the authors correlated the mean performance of each age group across all the tasks, they found that the response times of the elderly were almost perfectly predicted by the performance of the young Ss but that the error rates were not correlated. These findings suggest that although there is slowing with age, individual imaging processes are affected selectively by aging.

[1]  R. Shepard,et al.  Mental Rotation of Three-Dimensional Objects , 1971, Science.

[2]  S. Kosslyn.  Scanning visual images:Some structural implications , 1973 .

[3]  J. Birren,et al.  Translations in gerontology--from lab to life. Psychophysiology and speed of response. , 1974, The American psychologist.

[4]  S. Gaylord,et al.  Age differences in the speed of a spatial cognitive process. , 1975, Journal of gerontology.

[5]  L. Cooper.  Mental rotation of random two-dimensional shapes , 1975, Cognitive Psychology.

[6]  R. Shepard,et al.  Functional representations common to visual perception and imagination. , 1978, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

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

[8]  A. Hartley,et al.  Rotation of mental images by young and old college students: the effects of familiarity. , 1979, Journal of gerontology.

[9]  James E. Birren,et al.  Behavioral slowing with age: Causes, organization, and consequences. , 1980 .

[10]  B. Fischhoff,et al.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory , 1980 .

[11]  L W Poon,et al.  Mental rotation and age reconsidered. , 1981, Journal of gerontology.

[12]  S. Kosslyn.  Image and mind , 1982 .

[13]  K. Engels,et al.  [Reaction time]. , 2021, Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift.

[14]  Earl Hunt,et al.  Age differences in the speed of mental rotation , 1982 .

[15]  S Pinker,et al.  Directional scanning of remembered visual patterns. , 1983, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

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

[17]  T. Salthouse.  Speed of behavior and its implications for cog-nition , 1985 .

[18]  R. Morrell,et al.  Age-related slowing in mental rotation of three-dimensional objects. , 1986, Experimental aging research.

[19]  T. Salthouse.  The role of representations in age differences in analogical reasoning. , 1987, Psychology and aging.

[20]  M. J. Sharps,et al.  Speed and accuracy of mental image rotation in young and elderly adults. , 1987, Journal of gerontology.

[21]  M. Farah.  Is visual imagery really visual? Overlooked evidence from neuropsychology. , 1988, Psychological review.

[22]  Stephen M Kosslyn,et al.  Sequential processes in image generation , 1988, Cognitive Psychology.

[23]  S. Kosslyn.  Seeing and Imagining in the Cerebral Hemispheres: A Computational Approach , 1988 .

[24]  R. Finke,et al.  Principles of mental imagery , 1989 .

[25]  S. Kosslyn,et al.  Age differences in imagery abilities. , 1990, Child development.

[26]  Neil Charness,et al.  Age-related declines in working-memory skills : evidence from a complex calculation task , 1990 .

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

[28]  M. Posner,et al.  The attention system of the human brain. , 1990, Annual review of neuroscience.

[29]  Stephen M. Kosslyn,et al.  When is imagery used in everyday life? A diary study. , 1990 .

[30]  J Cerella,et al.  Age effects may be global, not local: comment on Fisk and Rogers (1991) , 1991, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[31]  Arthur D. Fisk,et al.  Toward an understanding of age-related memory and visual search effects. , 1991 .

[32]  C. Folk,et al.  Aging and shifts of visual spatial attention. , 1992, Psychology and aging.

[33]  Fergus I M Craik,et al.  Age-related differences in three tests of visual imagery. , 1992, Psychology and aging.

[34]  Itiel E. Dror,et al.  Visual Mental Rotation: Different Processes Used by Pilots , 1992 .

[35]  A. D. Fisk,et al.  General slowing alone cannot explain age-related search effects: reply to Cerella (1991) , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[36]  R. Kliegl,et al.  Contents, Vol. 35, 1992 , 1992 .

[37]  Timothy A. Salthouse,et al.  Shifting Levels of Analysis in the Investigation of Cognitive Aging , 1992 .

[38]  B. Rypma,et al.  Age differences in mental rotation task performance: the influence of speed/accuracy tradeoffs. , 1993, Journal of gerontology.

[39]  D. Geldmacher,et al.  Wet Mind , 1993, Neurology.

[40]  S. Kosslyn,et al.  Visual imagery and visual-spatial language: Enhanced imagery abilities in deaf and hearing ASL signers , 1993, Cognition.

[41]  Wayne L Waag,et al.  Visual-spatial abilities of pilots , 1993 .

[42]  S. Kosslyn.  Image and brain: the resolution of the imagery debate , 1994 .