Memory Factors in Age-Related Differences in Simple Reasoning

Authors

Timothy A. Salthouse, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus
Roni Reiter-Palmon, University of Nebraska at OmahaFollow
Deborah Mitchell, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1990

Publication Title

Psychology and Aging

Volume

5

Issue

1

First Page

9

Last Page

15

Abstract

Adults in their 50s were compared with adults in their late teens or 20s in the accuracy of relatively simple reasoning decisions involving varying amounts of information. Because the magnitude of the age differences in decision accuracy was independent of the amount of information relevant to the decision, it was suggested that adults in their 20s and 50s do not differ in the effectiveness of integrating information across multiple premises. However, the 2 groups differed in the accuracy of trials involving only a single relevant premise, and thus it was inferred that 1 factor contributing to reasoning differences within the age range from 20 to 60 may be a failure to encode, or retain, relevant information.

Comments

© 1990 American Psychological Association.

This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record. The final version can be found at http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/pag/5/1/9/.

Recommended Citation

Salthouse, Timothy A.; Reiter-Palmon, Roni; and Mitchell, Deborah, "Memory Factors in Age-Related Differences in Simple Reasoning" (1990). Psychology Faculty Publications. 69.
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/psychfacpub/69