The aim of this study was to investigate the association between routinization of daily life activities and cognitive resources during aging. Routinization could increase excessively during aging and become maladaptative in reducing individual resources. Fifty-two young participants (M = 20.8 years) and 62 older participants (M = 66.9 years)…

This study examined the effects of aging and education on participants' false memory for words that were not presented. Three age groups of participants with either a high or low education level were asked to study lists of semantically related words. Both age and education were found to affect veridical and false memory, as indicated in the…

With many Western societies structured for adults to live longer and take responsibility for their health, it is valuable to investigate how older persons reason about this demand. Using mixed methods, this pilot studied how older persons reason about responsibility for health and their responsibility as a patient. Interviews with a small Swedish…

This study aimed to ascertain the characteristics of spatial perspective-taking ability--assumed to be a form of imaginary body movement in three-dimensional space--in the elderly. A new task was devised to evaluate the development of this function: 20 children, 20 university students, and 20 elderly people (each group comprising 10 men and 10…

Despite their importance for general health, emotion-related factors have rarely been considered in the etiology of late-life insomnia. This study explored the relations between impulsivity, regret experiences, use of different thought-control strategies, and insomnia severity in a sample of older adults whose age ranged from 51 to 98 years.…

This study examined diverse older adults' (n = 396, ages 50+) views about how to stay mentally sharp. We conducted 42 focus groups in four languages at nine United States locations using a standardized discussion guide and methods. The groups represented African Americans, American Indians, Chinese Americans, Latinos, Whites other than Latinos,…

Fluctuations in cognitive task performance in older individuals have been reported. To examine intraindividual variability as a function of practice, 34 younger and 34 older female participants, aged 20-30 years and 70-82 years, respectively, performed a reading span task 16 times over four sessions. Each individual's recall accuracy was analyzed…

Processing speed, inhibitory control and working memory have been identified as the main possible culprits of age-related cognitive decline. This article describes a study of their interrelationships and dependence on age, including exploration of whether any of them mediates between age and the others. We carried out a LISREL analysis of the…

We examined short-term changes in younger and older adults' control beliefs. Participants completed measures of general and memory-specific competence and locus of control on 10 bi-monthly occasions. At each occasion, participants rated their control beliefs prior to and following completion of a battery of cognitive tasks. Exposure to the set of…

Examined effects of enforced organizational strategies on the memory of older adults for textual material. Young and old adults sorted scrambled sentences of a prose passage into the correct order. When older adults were required to make an in-depth analysis to sort material, their incidental memory for textual information was approximately equal…

The present study focused on changes in volunteering over time among Italian adults and examined a model in which motives from self-determination theory (SDT) were hypothesized to influence a series of social-cognitive processes including self-efficacy judgments and constructs from the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The study was conducted with…

Examined longitudinal changes in cognitive functioning for aging twins. Found that those who were considered demented in old age had achieved lower test scores 20 years prior to diagnosis and experienced greater declines in vocabulary and forward digit span over time than those without dementia. Suggests that dementia may develop very slowly.…

Assessed knowledge of retrieval processes (feeling-of-knowing judgments and retrieval monitoring) of subjects (N=20) aged 25-35 and subjects (N=20) aged 70-85 using recent news event questions. Found age group differences in accuracy of retrieval monitoring, free recall and recall aided by phonological cues but not in participants' knowledge of…

Discusses the problem of designing educational systems for the aged to maximize their potential for success. Suggests that complex changes in working memory occur with advanced age; by understanding the nature of these changes, educational materials can be designed which properly refresh memory and guide comprehension. (JAC)

Estimated cognitive resources in nondemented older adults (n=165; ages 60-100+). Five clusters of results were found concerning age differences, the role of everyday experiences, influence of physical and mental health on cognitive performance, personality and cognitive factors, and levels of intelligence and affect. Concluded that cognitive…