Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-995ml Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-26T10:59:21.942Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Selective review of cognitive aging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2010

TIMOTHY A. SALTHOUSE*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
*
*Correspondence and reprint requests to: Timothy A. Salthouse, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400. E-mail: salthouse@virginia.edu

Abstract

Research concerned with relations between adult age and cognitive functioning is briefly reviewed. The coverage is necessarily selective, and is organized in terms of five major questions. These are what abilities are related to age, how many distinct influences are contributing to the relations between age and cognitive functioning, do the differences between people increase with advancing age, what is responsible for the discrepancies between cross-sectional and longitudinal age comparisons of cognitive functioning, and what methods can be used to identify causes of age-related influences on cognition. Although definitive answers are not yet possible, quite a bit of information relevant to the questions is now available. Moreover, the existing information has implications for the design, analysis, and interpretation of cognitive and neuropsychological research concerned with aging. (JINS, 2010, 16, 754–760.)

Type
Short Review
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Baron, R.M., & Kenny, D.A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 11731182.Google Scholar
Borella, E., Carretti, B., & De Beni, R. (2008). Working memory and inhibition across the adult life-span. Acta Psychologica, 128, 3344.Google Scholar
Bugg, J.M., Zook, N.A., DeLosh, E.L., Davalos, D.B., & Davis, H.P. (2006). Age differences in fluid intelligence: Contributions of general slowing and frontal decline. Brain and Cognition, 62, 916.Google Scholar
Cabeza, R., Nyberg, L., & Park, D. (Eds.). (2005). Cognitive neuroscience of aging: Linking cognitive and cerebral aging. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cattell, R.B. (1943). The measurement of adult intelligence. Psychological Bulletin, 40, 153193.Google Scholar
Clark, C.R., Paul, R.H., Williams, L.M., Arns, M., Fallahpour, K., Handmer, C., et al. . (2006). Standardized assessment of cognitive functioning during development and aging using an automated touchscreen battery. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 21, 449467.Google Scholar
Craik, F.I.M., & Salthouse, T.A. (Eds.). (2008). Handbook of cognitive aging (3rd ed.). New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Dixon, R.A., & Backman, L. (Eds.). (2004). New frontiers in cognitive aging. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dore, G.A., Elias, M.F., Robbins, M.A., Elias, P.K., & Brennan, S.L. (2007). Cognitive performance and age: Norms from the Maine-Syracuse study. Experimental Aging Research, 33, 205271.Google Scholar
Glisky, E.L., Polster, M.R., & Routhieaux, B.C. (1995). Double dissociation between item and source memory. Neuropsychology, 9, 229235.Google Scholar
Head, D., Rodrigue, K.M., Kennedy, K.M., & Raz, N. (2008). Neuroanatomical and cognitive mediators of age-related differences in episodic memory. Neuropsychology, 22, 491507.Google Scholar
Hultsch, D.F., Hertzog, C., Dixon, R.A., & Small, B.J. (1998). Memory change in the aged. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lindenberger, U., & Ghisletta, P. (2009). Cognitive and sensory declines in old age: Gauging the evidence for a common cause. Psychology and Aging, 24, 116.Google Scholar
Ronnlund, M., & Nilsson, L.-G. (2006). Adult life-span patterns in WAIS-R Block Design performance; Cross-sectional versus longitudinal age gradients and relations to demographic factors. Intelligence, 34, 6378.Google Scholar
Ronnlund, M., Nyberg, L., Backman, L., & Nilsson, L.-G. (2005). Stability, growth, and decline in adult life span development of declarative memory: Cross-sectional and longitudinal data from a population-based study. Psychology and Aging, 20, 318.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A. (2005). Relations between cognitive abilities and measures of executive functioning. Neuropsychology, 19, 532545.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A. (2009a). Decomposing age correlations on neuropsychological and cognitive variables. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 15, 650661.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A. (2009b). When does age-related cognitive decline begin? Neurobiology of Aging, 30, 507514.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A. (2010a). Major issues in cognitive aging. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A. (2010b). Is flanker-based inhibition related to age? Identifying specific influences of individual differences on neurocognitive variables. Brain and Cognition, 73, 5161.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A. (in press). Influence of age on practice effects in longitudinal neurocognitive change. Neuropsychology.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A., Atkinson, T.M., & Berish, D.E. (2003). Executive functioning as a potential mediator of age-related cognitive decline in normal adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 132, 566594.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A., Berish, D.E., & Siedlecki, K.L. (2004). Construct validity and age sensitivity of prospective memory. Memory & Cognition, 32, 11331148.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A., & Davis, H.P. (2006). Organization of cognitive abilities and neuropsychological variables across the lifespan. Developmental Review, 26, 3154.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A., Fristoe, N., & Rhee, S.H. (1996). How localized are age-related effects on neuropsychological measures? Neuropsychology, 10, 272285.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A., & Meinz, E.J. (1995). Aging, inhibition, working memory, and speed. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 50B, P297P306.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A., Pink, J.E., & Tucker-Drob, E.M. (2008). Contextual analysis of fluid intelligence. Intelligence, 36, 464486.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A., & Siedlecki, K.L. (2007). Efficiency of route selection as a function of adult age. Brain and Cognition, 63, 279287.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A., Siedlecki, K.L., & Krueger, L.E. (2006). An individual differences analysis of memory control. Journal of Memory and Language, 55, 102125.Google Scholar
Siedlecki, K.L., Salthouse, T.A., & Berish, D.E. (2005). Is there anything special about the aging of source memory? Psychology and Aging, 20, 1932.Google Scholar
Schaie, K.W. (2005). Developmental influences on adult intelligence: The Seattle Longitudinal Study. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Schretlen, D., Pearlson, G.D., Anthony, J.C., Aylward, E.H., Augustine, A.M., Davis, A., et al. . (2000). Elucidating the contributions of processing speed, executive ability, and frontal lobe volume to normal age-related differences in fluid intelligence. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 6, 5261.Google Scholar
Van der Elst, W., Van Boxtel, M.P.J., Van Breukelen, G.J.P., & Jolles, J. (2006). The Stroop Color-Word Test: Influence of age, sex, and education; normative data for a large sample across the adult age range. Assessment, 13, 6279.Google Scholar
Wilson, R.S., Beckett, L.A., Barnes, L.L., Schneider, J.A., Bach, J., Evans, D.A., et al. . (2002). Individual differences in rates of change in cognitive abilities in older persons. Psychology and Aging, 17, 179193.Google Scholar