Cognitive Efficiency Modes in Old Age: Performance on Sequential and Coordinative Verbal and Visuospatial Tasks

• Published in: Psychology and aging 2002-12, Vol.17 (4), p.558-570
• Main Authors: Verhaeghen, Paul, Cerella, John, Semenec, Silvie C, Leo, Melissa A, Bopp, Kara L, Steitz, David W
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Adult. Elderly; Age Differences; Aged; Aging; Aging - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive Ability; Cognitive Processing Speed; Developmental psychology; Elderly people; Executive function; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Humans; Male; Motor Skills; Older Adulthood; Older people; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Task Performance and Analysis; Verbal Ability; Verbal Behavior; Verbal communication skills; Visual Perception; Visual-Spatial ability; Visuospatial Ability
• ISSN: 0882-7974; 1939-1498
• DOI: 10.1037/0882-7974.17.4.558

In an experiment using a large set of verbal and spatial tasks requiring low or high degrees of executive control, 3 distinct age-related effects were found. The smallest effect (no slowing) was tied to lexical tasks with low executive involvement, the largest deficit (age-related slowing factor of 2.2) was tied to visuospatial tasks with high executive involvement, an intermediate level of deficit (slowing factor of 1.7) was found for visuospatial tasks with low executive load and verbal tasks with high executive load. These age-related dissociations were incompatible with any "common cause" formulation. The mechanism responsible for the dissociation between verbal and visual tasks, and between low and high executive load remains to be determined. The latter may reflect capacity limits.