Theory of mind (ToM) refers to humans' ability to recognize the existence of mental states, such as beliefs, emotions, and desires. The literature on ToM in aging and on the relationship between ToM and other cognitive functions, like executive functions, is not homogenous. The aim of the present study was to explore the course of ToM and to…

Reviewed research with the Twenty Questions Task aimed at investigating problem solving across the life span. Research indicates use of an efficient problem-solving strategy increases during childhood and then decreases again during the later adult years. Elderly adults' performance was facilitated when the necessity of using an efficient strategy…

Fifth graders, ninth graders, college students, and persons over age sixty-five were given pencil-and-paper tasks in spatial development. Discusses results in terms of ecological validity, experience, and number of competing cues to be processed simultaneously. Used Piaget's formulation on adult cognitive development to explain elderly's…

Young, middle-age, and old adults ranked similarities of word pairs in a conditional rank-ordering task. Analyses of variance revealed an age-related decline in semantic processing but no such decline for elaboration. Older adults' retrieval was less compatible with initial processing than was the case for younger adults. (Author/ABB)

Animistic responding was generally unrelated to logical classification ability or to analytic cognitive style. Results which found high levels of animistic thinking beyond adolescence do not support Piagetian theory. Adults may respond animistically because of emotional attachments which they have formed to certain meaningful physical objects.…

Asked older individuals (N=24) questions regarding which of their cognitive abilities have changed with age. Subjects' reports about memory corresponded with previous research, i.e., memory decreases with increasing age. For problem-solving abilities, subjects' reports did not correspond with research, i.e., abilities increased with age. Factors…

Children follow a Piagetian cognitive-developmental sequence in their ability to understand age concepts, as shown by the association between responses on the Concept of Age instrument and level of reasoning on conservation tasks. Education in aging must consider the reasoning patterns of children of various ages. (Author)

Examined the development of belief discrepancy reasoning, or how people evaluate disagreeing others, with 44 college and elderly respondents. Results showed the elderly were significantly lower in belief discrepancy reasoning and higher in dogmatism than the college sample. The elderly sample did not evidence intolerance, but rather relativism.…

Education, not age per se, is related to conservation ability during the adult years. Age differences should not be interpreted as age changes without using the more appropriate designs which separate age and cohort effects. Results emphasize the relationship between education and cognitive abilities among the elderly. (Author)

Administered six cognitive tasks to 115 men aged 50-93. Obtained two factors. The nonverbal performance factor was significantly predicted by age while the verbal factor was significantly predicted by education. The results suggest that verbal and nonverbal abilities may be determined by different antecedents. (Author)

Participants aged 17-26, 39-51 and 59-76 solved concept problems to investigate intellectual correlates of concept identification as a function of stage of learning in adulthood. Differential ability-performance relations as a function of stage of learning were considerably less potent in the elderly v the young and middle aged. (Author)

Examined age differences in self-ratings of present and projected past and future cognitive performance across cognitive domains. Findings from 151 adults in their 20s, 40s, 60s, and 80s revealed that performance on fluid/speeded intelligence, memory, and reasoning tasks followed progression of poorer performance with age. Found age differences in…

Assessed developmental aspects of ideational fluency, flexibility, and originality across five age groups in 316 Chinese who responded in Cantonese to four groups of acoustical stimuli. Comparative American data were collected previously. Results indicated cross-cultural similarity in the expression of originality, based on developmental trends…