Abstract
Sometimes, older adults perform just as well and even just as fast as younger adults— even in relatively complex cognitive tasks tapping the “mechanics of cognition” (Baltes, 1997, this volume). This chapter attempts to unravel the possible reasons for this astonishing phenomenon. In particular, we argue that theoretically predicted age invariance under speeded task conditions constitutes the optimal baseline for delineating domains of functioning according to the severity of associated age differences. In the first part of this chapter, we address the general issue of how process-specific effects can be delineated from general effects of aging in cognitive functions. The critical observation here is that very often an age difference is already present in an experimental condition meant to serve as a baseline for the assessment of an age difference in a cognitive process in a more complex condition. We propose experimental control techniques that may eliminate the interpretational ambiguity associated with such ordinal interactions. In the second and third parts, we illustrate this approach for research on movement timing and semantic memory access to demonstrate a clear delineation of processing domains with different degrees of age sensitivity. Although our research examples are from the field of cognitive aging, the proposal to eliminate baseline differences between quasi-experimental groups by means of experimental control should be useful as well for age contrasts in other segments of the lifespan (such as child development; cf. Wellman, this volume) and for comparative work involving other quasi-experimental variables (groups differing in health, social status, attitudes, and so on). A better understanding of basic constraints of the cognitive system will contribute to theoretical accounts of selection, optimization, and compensation, processes that have to operate within these constraints (Baltes & Baltes, 1990; M. Baltes & Carstensen, this volume). Therefore, in the final section, we discuss the implications of age-related functional dissociations for an understanding of adaptive processes that operate throughout the lifespan.
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Kliegl, R., Krampe, R.T., Mayr, U. (2003). Formal Models of Age Differences in Task-Complexity Effects. In: Staudinger, U.M., Lindenberger, U. (eds) Understanding Human Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0357-6_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0357-6_13
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