Normal Aging Increases Discriminal Dispersion in Visuospatial Short-Term Memory

Computational models of cognitive aging propose that age-related decrements in cognitive performance, including short-term memory (STM), result from less distinct stimulus representations. When applied to visual STM, these models predict higher discriminal dispersion (L. L. Thurstone, 1927, Psychoph...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychology and aging 2012-09, Vol.27 (3), p.627-637
Main Authors: NOACK, Hannes, LÖVDEN, Martin, LINDENBERGER, Ulman
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adult. Elderly
Age Differences
Age Factors
Aged
Ageing
Aging
Aging - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
change detection
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive performance
Developmental psychology
discriminal dispersion
Discrimination (Psychology) - physiology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Indexing
Information processing
Male
Memory
Memory, Short-Term - physiology
Middle Aged
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reaction Time
Retention
Retention (Psychology) - physiology
Short term
Short Term Memory
Space Perception - physiology
Visual Perception - physiology
visual short-term memory
Visuospatial Memory
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Summary:Computational models of cognitive aging propose that age-related decrements in cognitive performance, including short-term memory (STM), result from less distinct stimulus representations. When applied to visual STM, these models predict higher discriminal dispersion (L. L. Thurstone, 1927, Psychophysical analysis, The American Journal of Psychology, 38, 368-389.) in older adults than in younger adults. To test this prediction, we used a change-detection paradigm for visuospatial locations, with different levels of cognitive load (one, three, or five items) and retention interval (100 or 1,000 ms). Adult age differences were not reliable at Load 1, but were substantial at Loads 3 and 5. Effects of retention time did not differ across age groups, suggesting that age-related differences originated mainly from early processing stages. Applying a mixture model to the data revealed age-related increases in discriminal dispersion and decreases in asymptotic discrimination performance (indexing STM capacity). We concluded that age-related declines in discriminal dispersion, in addition to increasing capacity limitations, impair visual STM performance with advancing adult age.
ISSN:0882-7974
1939-1498
1939-1498
DOI:10.1037/a0027251