The Processing-Speed Theory of Adult Age Differences in Cognition

Psychological Review

Volumn 103, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 403-428

  Salthouse, Timothy A ^a  

^a GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AGED; AGING; ATTENTION; COGNITION; FEMALE; HUMAN; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; REACTION TIME; REVIEW;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; AGED; AGED, 80 AND OVER; AGING; ATTENTION; COGNITION; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; REACTION TIME;

EID: 0030194684     PISSN: 0033295X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1037/0033-295X.103.3.403     Document Type: Article

References (114)

1. Babcock, R. L. (1994). Analysis of adult age differences in the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices Test. Psychology and Aging, 9, 303-314.
2. Baddeley, A. D. (1986). Working memory. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press.
3. Bieman-Copland, S., & Charness, N. (1994). Memory knowledge and memory monitoring in adulthood. Psychology and Aging, 9, 287-302.
4. Birren, J. E. (1965). Age changes in speed of behavior: Its central nature and physiological correlates. In A. T. Welford & J. E. Birren (Eds.), Behavior, aging, and the nervous system (pp. 191-216). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
5. Birren, J. E. (1974). Translations in gerontology: From lab to life: Psychophysiology and speed of response. American Psychologist, 29, 808-815.
6. Bors, D. A., & Forrin, B. (1995). Age, speed of information processing, recall, and fluid intelligence. Intelligence, 20, 229-248.
7. Brinley, J. F. (1965). Cognitive sets, speed and accuracy of performance in the elderly. In A. T. Welford & J. E. Birren (Eds.), Behavior, aging, and the nervous system (pp. 114-149). Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.
8. Bryan, J., & Luszcz, M. A. (1996). Speed of information processing as a mediator between age and free recall performance. Psychology and Aging, 11, 3-9.
9. Cattell, R. B. (1943). The measurement of adult intelligence. Psychological Bulletin, 40, 153-193.
10. Cerella, J. (1985). Information processing rates in the elderly. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 67-83.
11. Cerella, J. (1990). Aging and information processing rates in the elderly. In J. E. Birren & K. W. Schaie (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of aging (3rd ed., pp. 201-221). New York: Academic Press.
12. Cerella, J. (1991). Age effects may be global not local: Comment on Fisk and Rogers (1991). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 120, 215-223.
13. Cerella, J. (1994). Generalized slowing in Brinley plots. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 49, P65-P71.
14. Cerella, J., Poon, L. W., & Williams, D. M. (1980). Age and the complexity hypothesis. In L. W. Poon (Ed.), Aging in the 1980's (pp. 332-340). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
15. Charness, N. (1987). Component processes in bridge bidding and novel problem-solving tasks. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 41, 223-243.
16. Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
17. Cohen, J., & Cohen, P. (1983). Applied multiple regression/correlation analyses for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
18. Craik, F. I. M., & Byrd, M. (1982). Aging and cognitive deficits: The role of attentional resources. In F. I. M. Craik & S. Trehub (Eds.), Aging and cognitive processes (pp. 191-211). New York: Plenum.
19. Earles, J. L., & Coon, V. E. (1994). Adult age differences in long-term memory for performed activities. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 49, P32-P34.
20. Earles, J. L., & Salthouse, T. A. (1995). Interrelations of age, health, and speed. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 50B, P33-P41.
21. Ekstrom, R. B., French, J. W., Harman, H., & Dermen, D. (1976). Kit of factor-referenced cognitive tests (Rev. ed.). Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
22. Eysenck, H. J. (1987). Speed of information processing, reaction time, and the theory of intelligence. In P. A. Vernon (Ed.), Speed of information processing and intelligence (pp. 22-67). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
23. Fisk, A. D., & Fisher, D. L. (1994). Brinley plots and theories of aging: The explicit, muddled, and implicit debates. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 49, P81-P89.
24. Fisk, A. D., Fisher, D. L., & Rogers, W. A. (1992). General slowing alone cannot explain age-related search effects: A reply to Cerella. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 121, 73-78.
25. Foster, J. C., & Taylor, G. A. (1920). The applicability of mental tests to persons over 50. Journal of Applied Psychology, 4, 39-58.
26. Ghiselli, E. E. (1973). The validity of aptitude tests in personnel selection. Personnel Psychology, 26, 461-477.
27. Graf, P., & Uttl, B. (1995). Component processes of memory: Changes across the adult lifespan. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 54, 113-138.
28. Hale, S., Lima, S. D., & Myerson, J. (1991). General cognitive slowing in the nonlexical domain: An experimental validation. Psychology and Aging, 6, 512-521.
29. Hartley, J. T. (1986). Reader and text variables as determinants of discourse memory in adulthood. Psychology and Aging, 1, 150-158.
30. Hartley, J. T. (1993). Aging and prose memory: Tests of the resource-deficit hypothesis. Psychology and Aging, 8, 538-551.
31. Hasher, L., & Zacks, R. T. (1988). Working memory, comprehension, and aging: A review and a new view. In G. H. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 22, pp. 193-225). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
32. Hebb, D. O. (1942). The effect of early and late brain injury upon test scores and the nature of normal adult intelligence. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 85, 275-292.
33. Hertzog, C. (1989). Influences of cognitive slowing on age differences in intelligence. Developmental Psychology, 25, 636-651.
34. Horn, J. L. (1982). The theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence in relation to concepts of cognitive psychology and aging in adulthood. In F. I. M. Craik & S. Trehub (Eds.), Aging and cognitive processes (pp. 237-278). New York: Plenum.
35. Horn, J. L., & Cattell, R. B. (1963). Age differences in fluid and crystallized intelligence. Acta Psychologica, 26, 107-129.
36. Hultsch, D. F., Hertzog, C., & Dixon, R. A. (1990). Ability correlates of memory performance in adulthood and aging. Psychology and Aging, 5, 356-368.
37. Hultsch, D. F., Hertzog, C., Small, B. J., McDonald-Miszczak, L., & Dixon, R. A. (1992). Short-term longitudinal change in cognitive performance in later life. Psychology and Aging, 7, 571-584.
38. Hunter, J. E., & Hunter, R. F. (1984). Validity and utility of alternate predictors of job performance. Psychological Bulletin, 96, 72-98.
39. Jensen, A. R. (1982). The chronometry of intelligence. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Advances in the psychology of human intelligence (Vol. 1, pp. 255-310). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
40. Jensen, A. R. (1987). Individual differences in the Hick paradigm. In P. A. Vernon (Ed.), Speed of information processing and intelligence (pp. 101-175). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
41. Jones, H. E. (1956). Problems of aging in perceptual and intellective functions. In J. E. Anderson (Ed.), Psychological aspects of aging (pp. 135-139). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
42. Jones, H. E., & Conrad, H. S. (1933). The growth and decline of intelligence: A study of a homogeneous group between the ages of ten and sixty. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 13, 223-298.
43. Kail, R. (1986). Sources of age differences in speed of processing. Child Development, 57, 969-987.
44. Kail, R. (1991). Developmental change in speed of processing during childhood and adolescence. Psychological Bulletin, 109, 490-501.
45. Kail, R., & Park, Y. (1992). Global developmental change in processing times. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 38, 525-541.
46. Kail, R., & Salthouse, T. A. (1994). Processing speed as a mental capacity. Acta Psychologica, 86, 199-225.
47. Kersten, A., & Salthouse, T. A. (1993). [Relations between time and accuracy in a continuous associative memory task]. Unpublished raw data.
48. Kliegl, R., Mayr, U., & Krampe, R. T. (1994). Time-accuracy functions for determining process and person differences: An application to cognitive aging. Cognitive Psychology, 26, 134-164.
49. Kwong See, S. T., & Ryan, E. B. (1995). Cognitive mediation of adult age differences in language performance. Psychology and Aging, 10, 458-468.
50. Laver, G. D., & Burke, D. M. (1993). Why do semantic priming effects increase in old age? A meta-analysis Psychology and Aging, 8, 34-43.
51. Lemmon, V. W. (1927). The relation of reaction time to measures of intelligence, memory, and learning. Archives of Psychology (Whole No. 94).
52. Lima, S. D., Hale, S., & Myerson, J. (1991). How general is general slowing? Evidence from the lexical domain. Psychology and Aging, 6, 416-425.
53. Lindenberger, U., Mayr, U., & Kliegl, R. (1993). Speed and intelligence in old age. Psychology and Aging, 8, 207-220.
54. MacCallum, R. C., Wegener, D. T., Uchino, B. N., & Fabrigar, L. R. (1993). The problem of equivalent models in applications of covariance structure analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 185-199.
55. MacKay, D. G., & Burke, D. M. (1990). Cognition and aging: A theory of new learning and the use of old connections. In T. M. Hess (Ed.), Aging and cognition: Knowledge organization and utilization (pp. 213-263). Amsterdam: North-Holland.
56. Madden, D. J., Pierce, T. W., & Allen, P. A. (1992). Adult age differences in attentional allocation during memory search. Psychology and Aging, 7, 594-601.
57. Madden, D. J., Pierce, T. W., & Allen, P. A. (1993). Age-related slowing and the time course of semantic priming in visual word identification. Psychology and Aging, 8, 490-507.
58. Mayr, U., & Kliegl, R. (1993). Sequential and coordinative complexity: Age-based processing limitations in figural transformations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 19, 1297-1320.
59. Myerson, J., Hale, S., Wagstaff, D., Poon, L. W., & Smith, G. A. (1990). The information loss model: A mathematical theory of age-related cognitive slowing. Psychological Review, 97, 475-487.
60. Myerson, J., Wagstaff, D., & Hale, S. (1994). Brinley plots, explained variance, and the analysis of age differences in response latencies. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 49, P72-P80.
61. Nettelbeck, T., & Rabbitt, P. M. A. (1992). Aging, cognitive performance, and mental speed. Intelligence, 16, 189-205.
62. Peak, H., & Boring, E. G. (1926). The factor of speed in intelligence. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 9, 71-94.
63. Perfect, T. J. (1994). What can Brinley plots tell us about cognitive aging? Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 49, P60-P64.
64. Rushton, J. P., Brainerd, C. J., & Pressley, M. (1983). Behavioral development and construct validity: The principle of aggregation. Psychological Bulletin, 94, 18-38.
65. Salthouse, T. A. (1980). Age and memory: Strategies for localizing the loss. In L. W. Poon, J. L. Fozard, L. Cermak, D. Arenberg, & L. W. Thompson (Eds.), New directions in memory and aging. (pp. 47-65). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
66. Salthouse, T. A. (1982). Adult cognition: An experimental psychology of human aging. New York: Springer-Verlag.
67. Salthouse, T. A. (1984). Effects of age and skill in typing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 113, 345-371.
68. Salthouse, T. A. (1985a). Speed of behavior and its implications for cognition. In J. E. Birren & K. W. Schaie (Eds.), Handbook of the psychology of aging (2nd ed., pp. 400-426). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
69. Salthouse, T. A. (1985b). A theory of cognitive aging. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
70. Salthouse, T. A. (1987). The role of representations in age differences in analogical reasoning. Psychology and Aging, 2, 357-362.
71. Salthouse, T. A. (1988a). Initializing the formalization of theories of cognitive aging. Psychology and Aging, 3, 3-16.
72. Salthouse, T. A. (1988b). The role of processing resources in cognitive aging. In M. L. Howe & C. J. Brainerd (Eds.), Cognitive development in adulthood (pp. 185-239). New York: Springer-Verlag.
73. Salthouse, T. A. (1991a). Expertise as the circumvention of human processing limitations. In A. Ericcson & J. Smith (Eds.), Toward a general theory of expertise: Prospects and limits (pp. 286-300). New York: Cambridge University Press.
74. Salthouse, T. A. (1991b). Mediation of adult age differences in cognition by reductions in working memory and speed of processing. Psychological Science, 2, 179-183.
75. Salthouse, T. A. (1991c). Theoretical perspectives on cognitive aging. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
76. Salthouse, T. A. (1992a). Influence of processing speed on adult age differences in working memory. Acta Psychologica, 79, 155-170.
77. Salthouse, T. A. (1992b). Mechanisms of age-cognition relations in adulthood. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
78. Salthouse, T. A. (1992c). Reasoning and spatial abilities. In F. I. M. Craik & T. A. Salthouse (Eds.), Handbook of aging and cognition (pp. 167-211). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
79. Salthouse, T. A. (1992d). Shifting levels of analysis in the investigation of cognitive aging. Human Development, 35, 321-342.
80. Salthouse, T. A. (1992e). What do adult age differences in the Digit Symbol Substitution Test reflect? Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 47, P121-P128.
81. Salthouse, T. A. (1992f). Why do adult age differences increase with task complexity? Developmental Psychology, 28, 905-918.
82. Salthouse, T. A. (1993a). Attentional blocks are not responsible for age-related slowing. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 48, P263-P270.
83. Salthouse, T. A. (1993b). Influence of working memory on adult age differences in matrix reasoning. British Journal of Psychology, 84, 171-199.
84. Salthouse, T. A. (1993c). Speed and knowledge as determinants of adult age differences in verbal tasks. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 48, P29-P36.
85. Salthouse, T. A. (1993d). Speed mediation of adult age differences in cognition. Developmental Psychology, 29, 722-738.
86. Salthouse, T. A. (1994a). Aging associations: Influence of speed on adult age differences in associative learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 20, 1486-1503.
87. Salthouse, T. A. (1994b). The aging of working memory. Neuropsychology, 8, 535-543.
88. Salthouse, T. A. (1994c). How many causes are there of aging-related decrements in cognitive functioning? Developmental Review, 14, 413-437.
89. Salthouse, T. A. (1994d). The nature of the influence of speed on adult age differences in cognition. Developmental Psychology, 30, 240-259.
90. Salthouse, T. A. (1995a). Differential age-related influences on memory for verbal-symbolic information and visual-spatial information. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 50B, P193-P201.
91. Salthouse, T. A. (1995b). Influence of processing speed on adult age differences in learning. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 54, 102-112.
92. Salthouse, T. A. (1995c). Processing capacity and its role on the relations between age and memory. In F. E. Weinert & W. Schneider (Eds.), Memory performance and competencies: Issues in growth and development (pp. 111-125). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
93. Salthouse, T. A. (1995d). Selective influences of age and speed on associative memory. American Journal of Psychology, 108, 381-396.
94. Salthouse, T. A. (1995e). [Age, speed, and memory interrelations]. Unpublished raw data.
95. Salthouse, T. A. (1996). General and specific speed mediation of adult age differences in memory. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 51B, P30-P42.
96. Salthouse, T. A., & Babcock, R. L. (1991). Decomposing adult age differences in working memory. Developmental Psychology, 27, 763-776.
97. Salthouse, T. A., & Coon, V. E. (1993). Influence of task-specific processing speed on age differences in memory. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 48, P245-P255.
98. Salthouse, T. A., & Coon, V. E. (1994). Interpretation of differential deficits: The case of aging and mental arithmetic. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 20, 1172-1182.
99. Salthouse, T. A., Fristoe, N. M., Lineweaver, T. T., & Coon, V. E. (1995). Aging of attention: Does the ability to divide decline? Memory & Cognition, 23, 59-71.
100. Salthouse, T. A., & Kail, R. (1983). Memory development throughout the life span: The role of processing rate. In P. B. Baltes & O. G. Brim (Eds.), Life span development and behavior (Vol. 5, pp. 89-116). New York: Academic Press.
101. Salthouse, T. A., & Kersten, A. W. (1993). Decomposing adult age differences in symbol arithmetic. Memory & Cognition, 21, 699-710.
102. Salthouse, T. A., Letz, R., & Hooisma, J. (1994). Causes and consequences of age-related slowing in speeded substitution performance. Developmental Neuropsychology, 10, 203-214.
103. Salthouse, T. A., & Meinz, E. J. (1995). Aging, inhibition, working memory, and speed. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 50B, P297-P306.
104. Salthouse, T. A., & Prill, K. A. (1987). Inferences about age impairments in inferential reasoning. Psychology and Aging, 2, 43-51.
105. Salthouse, T. A., & Somberg, B. L. (1982). Isolating the age deficit in speeded performance. Journal of Gerontology, 37, 59-63.
106. Schaie, K. W. (1989). Perceptual speed in adulthood: Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Psychology and Aging, 4, 443-453.
107. Schaie, K. W. (1990). Correction to Schaie (1989). Psychology and Aging, 5, 171.
108. Schaie, K. W., & Willis, S. L. (1993). Age difference patterns of psychometric intelligence in adulthood: Generalizability within and across ability domains. Psychology and Aging, 8, 371-383.
109. Tomer, A., & Cunningham, W. R. (1993). The structure of cognitive speed measures in old and young adults. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 28, 1-24.
110. Travis, L. E., & Hunter, T. A. (1928). The relation between 'intelligence' and reflex conduction rate. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 11, 342-354.
111. Vernon, P. A. (1983). Speed of information processing and general intelligence. Intelligence, 7, 53-70.
112. Vernon, P. A. (1987). New developments in reaction time research. In P. A. Vernon (Ed.), Speed of information processing and intelligence (pp. 1-19). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
113. Wechsler, D. (1981). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised. New York: Psychological Corporation.
114. White, N., & Cunningham, W. R. (1987). The age-comparative construct validity of speeded cognitive factors. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 22, 249-265.