Age differences in the speed and capacity of information processing: 1. A dual-task approach

Psychol Aging. 1987 Mar;2(1):70-8. doi: 10.1037//0882-7974.2.1.70.

Abstract

Sixty subjects, spanning the age range from 20 to 65, performed a series of tasks designed to evaluate the effects of aging on the speed and capacity of the human information-processing system. A tracking task was performed alone and concurrently with different versions of a Sternberg memory search task that varied the degree of resource competition with the tracking task. A dichotic-listening task, a tracking-task measure of perceptual-motor speed, and a complex transcription task were also performed. The data revealed a monotonic decrease in processing speed with age but no difference in time-sharing abilities between age groups. The latter conclusion was supported by a factor analysis of the test scores, which revealed that scores on the factor defining time-sharing did not differ with age.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aging / psychology*
  • Attention*
  • Auditory Perception
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mental Recall
  • Middle Aged
  • Psychomotor Performance*
  • Reaction Time*
  • Visual Perception