Effects of age and naturally occurring experience on spatial visualization performance.

A questionnaire designed to assess experience with activities presumed to require spatial visualization abilities, and psychometric tests of these abilities, were administered to 383 adults ranging from 20 to 83 years ofage. Although research participants varied considerably in the amount of self-reported experience, statistical control ofexperience resulted in relatively modest attenuations ofthe relations between age and spatial visualization performance. These findings seem inconsistent with a strong disuse interpretation ofcognitive aging phenomena and suggest that at least some age-related differences in cognitive functioning are independent ofthe amount ofexperience with relevant activities.

[1]  G. Stricker,et al.  Handbook of Developmental Psychology , 1982 .

[2]  Owens Wa.  Age and mental abilities: a longitudinal study. , 1953 .

[3]  T. Arbuckle,et al.  Cognitive functioning of older people in relation to social and personality variables. , 1986, Psychology and aging.

[4]  J. Howells.  Modern perspectives in the psychiatry of middle age , 1982 .

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

[6]  M. Glanzer,et al.  Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Results in a Study of Age-Related Changes1 , 1959 .

[7]  Neil Charness,et al.  Components of skill in bridge. , 1979 .

[8]  K. Sward.  Age and mental ability in superior men. , 1945, The American journal of psychology.

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

[10]  Bonnie J. F. Meyer,et al.  RELATION OF EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES OF ADULTS TO THEIR PROSE RECALL PERFORMANCE , 1988 .

[11]  Perceptual speed in adulthood: cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. , 1989, Psychology and aging.

[12]  Renee L. Babcock,et al.  Age and Experience Effects in Spatial Visualization , 1990 .

[13]  Age and mental abilities: a longitudinal study. , 1953, Genetic psychology monographs.

[14]  James E. Birren,et al.  Psychology of Adult Development and Aging , 1983 .

[15]  H. Sorenson.  Mental ability over a wide range of adult ages. , 1933 .

[16]  N. Charness,et al.  Aging and skilled problem solving. , 1981, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[17]  Carmi Schooler,et al.  Psychological effects of complex environments during the life span: A review and theory , 1984 .

[18]  T. Arbuckle,et al.  Stability of intelligence: a 40-year follow-up. , 1987, Canadian journal of psychology.

[19]  T. Salthouse,et al.  Utilization of path-analytic procedures to investigate the role of processing resources in cognitive aging. , 1988, Psychology and aging.

[20]  T. Salthouse.  Effects of age and skill in typing. , 1984, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[21]  B. Meyer,et al.  Prose recall: effects of aging, verbal ability, and reading behavior. , 1986, Journal of gerontology.

[22]  P. Retzlaff,et al.  Predicting WAIS-R scores from the Shipley institute of living scale in a homogeneous sample , 1986 .

[23]  T. Decarlo.  Recreation paricipation patterns and successful aging. , 1974, Journal of gerontology.