Age differences in fluid intelligence: Contributions of general slowing and frontal decline

The current study examined the contributions of general slowing and frontal decline to age differences in fluid intelligence. Participants aged 20–89 years completed Block Design, Matrix Reasoning, simple reaction time, choice reaction time, Wisconsin Card Sorting, and Tower of London tasks. Age-rel...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain and cognition 2006-10, Vol.62 (1), p.9-16
Main Authors: Bugg, Julie M., Zook, Nancy A., DeLosh, Edward L., Davalos, Deana B., Davis, Hasker P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adult. Elderly
Age Differences
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Aging (Individuals)
Aging - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain
Cognitive Ability
Cognitive Processes
Developmental psychology
Female
Fluid intelligence
Frontal function
Frontal Lobe - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Intelligence
Intelligence - physiology
Male
Measures (Individuals)
Memory, Short-Term - physiology
Middle Aged
Problem Solving - physiology
Processing speed
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reaction Time
Reaction Time - physiology
Reference Values
Regression Analysis
Task Analysis
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Summary:The current study examined the contributions of general slowing and frontal decline to age differences in fluid intelligence. Participants aged 20–89 years completed Block Design, Matrix Reasoning, simple reaction time, choice reaction time, Wisconsin Card Sorting, and Tower of London tasks. Age-related declines in fluid intelligence, speed of processing, and frontal function were observed. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that the processing speed and frontal function measures accounted for significant variance in fluid intelligence performance, but there was also a residual effect of age after controlling for each variable individually as well as both variables. An additional analysis showed that the variance in fluid intelligence that was attributable to processing speed was not fully shared with the variance attributable to frontal function. These findings suggest that the age-related decline in fluid intelligence is due to general slowing and frontal decline, as well as other unidentified factors.
ISSN:0278-2626
1090-2147
DOI:10.1016/j.bandc.2006.02.006