The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition

“Decreased cognitive capacity among seniors often does not depend on growing old but on lack of motivation, lifestyle factors and negative expectations [4] [22] [23] [24].”

“Several studies have investigated POCD risk factors, and they have concluded that age is the largest risk (Salthouse, 1996, 2003; Royall et al., 2004; Coppin et al., 2006; Yakhno et al., 2007).”

“Perceptual speed appears to be a very sensitive marker of cognitive aging (Lindenberger & Ghisletta, 2009; Salthouse, 1996) and therefore temporal processing measures are a reasonable domain to address the relation between sensory declines and cognitive aging.”

“Only a few theoretical accounts are available for explaining lifelong changes in cognitive abilities (e.g., Baltes, 1987; Salthouse, 1996; Craik and Bialystok, 2006; Li and Baltes, 2006; Shing and Lindenberger, 2011).”

“…be predictive of mortality (e.g., Hassing et al., 2002; Maier & Smith, 1999), perhaps because of its role as a general mechanism underlying age-related differences on several cognitive tasks (Salthouse, 1996) and because it might reflect primary aging of the central nervous system (Birren, 1965).”

“Salthouse (1996) considera que a capacidade de seqüenciamento de operações pode ser explicada em função da velocidade de processamento.”

“to generalized slowing (Salthouse, 1996), presumably caused by diffuse changes in the central nervous system.”

“The observed age‐related slowing of both neural processes and target detection performance, as described above, reinforces theories that suggest age‐related declines in cognitive control stem from slowed processing speed (Salthouse, 1996; Salthouse & Madden, 2007).”

“…on general aspects of the ApMEM task (ApMEM task is RT-based, it measures memory for sequences and requires focused attention) we also included tests of processing speed (Salthouse, 1996), spatial-visual sequence memory (Corsi, 1972; Kessels et al., 2000), and attention (Manly et al., 2000) (Fig.”

“Precise timing measurements were also crucial to investigate the degree towhich the effect of age could be accounted for by a decline in processing speed (Salthouse, 1996).”

“Given that measures of perceptual speed are often regarded as sensitive indicators of cognitive aging (Salthouse, 1996), we also conducted comparison analyses with the speed grouping.”

“In many paradigms, elderly show a slowing down of performance (e.g. Birren & Fisher, 1995; Kallus, Schmitt, & Beneton, 2005; Salthouse, 1996).”

“It is possible that the time constraint negatively influenced especially the performance of older adults on the working memory task, as a slowing-down of processing speed is a common hypothesis to explain age-related cognitive decline (Salthouse, 1996).”

“sustained attention and processing speed, along with contributions from working memory [27,30].”

“Indeed, some research has linked age-related lexical slowdowns in L1 to processing speed (Kail & Salthouse, 1994; Salthouse, 1996, 1998; Salthouse, Pink & Tucker-Drob, 2008; but see Finkel, Reynolds, Mcardle & Pedersen, 2007; Lawrence, Myerson & Hale, 1998), and it is likely that the same holds for…”

“Therefore, preservation of white matter integrity could be one of the mechanisms linking moderate to vigorous PA with processing speed and reasoning, consistent with the “cortical disconnection” (Bartzokis, 2004) and the “processing speed” theories of cognitive aging (Li et al., 2004; Salthouse, 1996).”

“Indeed, as many treatments need to be performed in a limited time, a slowing reduces the capacity to process information simultaneously (Salthouse, 1996; Finkel, Reynold, McArdle, & Pedersen, 2007).”

“For instance, age-related decreases in the efficiency of sensory functioning (Baltes & Lindenberger, 1997), speed of processing (Salthouse, 1996) and working memory (Park et al., 1996) have been invoked to account for older adults’ reduced ability to encode and retrieve information in episodic…”

“Therefore, aging may be characterized by an overlapping of deteriorated timing and deteriorated cognition (Salthouse, 1996; Szymaszek et al., 2006, 2009; Szelag et al., 2011b; Kolodziejczyk and Szelag, 2008).”

“…decline, while word knowledge, verbal comprehension, and other aspects of specific knowledge show relative stability or even improvement after the age of 60 (Baltes, Staudinger, & Lindenberger, 1999; Cunningham, 1987; Hertzog & Bleckley, 2001; Horn & Hofer, 1992; Salthouse, 1996; Schaie, 1996).”

“The time taken to recall chess pieces is not germane to the identification of chunks and thus makes this technique particularly valuable for memory studies with older participants, whose speed of performance is slower than younger participants [31].”

“Processing-speed Theory, proposed by Salthouse (1996), suggests that ageing causes slowing down of processing speed.”

“…measures that reflect psychomotor speed in the reduced battery (Trail Making Test, Part B; and Figural Visual Scanning and Discrimination) implies that older adults may be at a comparative disadvantage to younger adults as a result of many older adults’ slower speed of processing (Salthouse, 1996).”

“…span forward and backward, letter–number sequencing; Wechsler, 1997), processing speed (digit comparison task; Hedden et al., 2002; for reviews, see Salthouse, 1996, 2000), vocabulary (Shipley, 1986), and a screening tool for cognitive orientation (Mini-Mental State Exam [MMSE]; Folstein,…”

“One typical challenge that developmental researchers face is dealing with age differences in the timing of (cognitive) processing (Kail and Salthouse, 1994; Salthouse, 1996).”

“…central nervous system in most or all tasks become proportionally slower (Cerella, 1985; Eckert, 2011; Myerson et al., 2003a; Myerson, Hale, Zheng, Jenkins, & Widaman, 2003b; Salthouse, 1996; Sleimen-Malkoun, Temprado, & Berton, 2013; but see also Bashore et al., 2014, and Ratcliff et al., 2000).”

“For example, older adults typically demonstrate deficits in working memory capacity (15), processing speed (16,17), attentional resources (18), and inhibitory control (19,20).”

“The decline in basic processing speed with age is well established as evident in basic perceptual motor tasks as well as impacting more complex tasks (Salthouse 1996).”

“The executive decline hypothesis (West, 1996; Raz, 2000) and processing speed slowing hypothesis (Salthouse, 1996) are two concurrent hypotheses that dominate current research to explain age-related declines in memory.”

“Salthouse (1996) consideró que la complejidad cognitiva de estas tareas se debe a que las personas han de emplear una sucesión de transformaciones mentales de las figuras y a que han de retener simultáneamente los resultados en la memoria.”

“…cognitive declines are based on reduced WM capacity (e.g. Salthouse, Mitchell, Skovronek, & Babcock, 1989), slowed processing speed (e.g. Salthouse, 1996), difficulties inhibiting responses to irrelevant information (e.g. Hartman & Hasher, 1991), and deficits in integrative aspects of…”

“This is a potentially important finding, as “speed” has been considered a fundamental component of age-related CNS functional integrity (Salthouse, 1996).”

“…underlying executive working memory, basic processing speed, or both are core abilities underlying diverse types of performance (Bleckley, Durso, Crutchfield, Engle, & Khanna, 2003; Conway, Kane, & Engle, 2003; Kane et al., 2004; Salthouse, 1996; Salthouse, Fristoe, McGuthry, & Hambrick, 1998).”

“Speed of response has been widely studied with regard to age (Baltes & Lindenberger, 1997; Cerella, 1991, 1994; Fisk & Rogers, 1991; Salthouse, 1996), but there is little empirical data on attributions made when young versus older employees are slow to accomplish work-related tasks.”

“Processing speed, as originally defined, refers to the execution speed of a task (Salthouse, 1996).”

“…have been evaluated by the Stroop task, as revealed by a meta- analysis of 20 studies (Verhaeghen & De Meersman, 1998), which demonstrated that the interference effect observed in this task is merely the result of the classical slowing of cognitive processing with advancing age (Salthouse, 1996).”

“All 3 types of processing resource may be affected in LOD. Processing speed, which refers to the pace at which elementary cognitive operations are carried out [”

“Finally, a theory proposed by Salthouse (1994, 1995, 1996) focuses on the reduced speed of information processing in aging.”

“To ensure that any group differences did not account for these results, each scale that differed across groups (i.e., age, Pattern Matching, ERQ, Religion) was used as a second-level predictor in HLM analyses that mirror the one reported above.”

“However, the opposite could also hold in that cognitive performance is degraded when processing time is increased as the products of early processing may no longer be available by the time later processing is complete [cf. processing-speed theory, Salthouse (1996)].”

“Advancing age is generally associated with an overall decline in cognitive abilities that can be attributed to the combined effects of certain neurophysiological and cognitive changes with age, such as a decrease in processing speed (Kail & Salthouse, 1994; Salthouse, 1996), and the moderating effects of, for example,…”

“…theories strongly suggest a general factor involved in age-related cognitive decline across several domains (Gazzaley et al., 2005; Mather, 2016; Moran, 2013; Park et al., 1996; Salthouse, 1991), which can partly be attributed to a general slowing in information processing (Salthouse, 1994, 1996).”

“, speed of processing), are more basic to the system [3].”

“These changes cause a linear decline in cognitive abilities (e.g., Salthouse, 1996, 2004; Salthouse et al., 2003).”

“Fluid intelligence (i.e., the ability to think on an abstract level and solve problems) tends to decline with age (Salthouse, 1996), whereas crystalized intelligence (i.e., knowledge from previous experience and learnings) tends to increase (Schaie, 1994).”

“2002, EL: 5; Salthouse, 1991, EL: 5; Salthouse, 1996, EL: 2; Salthouse, 2004, EL: 2; Salthouse, 2005, EL: 5; Salthouse & Babcock, 1991, EL: 5; Stine-Morrow et al., 2008, EL: 5).”

“For instance, it has been suggested that it may be caused by a general slowing of processing speed in old adults (Salthouse, 1996; Rousselet et al., 2009), and/or by deficits in frontal lobe function, which, in turn, give rise to alterations in executive control (Hasher and Zacks, 1988; West, 1996;…”

“This age-related decline in processing rapid signals has been attributed to a cognitive decline in the speed of information processing (Salthouse 1996) as well as to a more central deficit in neural synchrony for coding of rapid signal onsets, as suggested by animal models of aging (Hellstrom & Schmiedt 1990; Boettche…”

“…et al, 1988; Salthouse, 1991; Baddeley, 1996), attentional difficulties in inhibiting irrelevant stimuli (Hasher and Zacks, 1988; Barr and Giambra, 1990; Stoltzfus et al, 1996), and slowing in many perceptual and cognitive operations (Cerella, 1994; Fisher and Glaser, 1996; Salthouse, 1996).”

“Given that aging is associated with a general decline in processing speed (Salthouse, 1996), it is not surprising to learn that temporal resolution in a variety of tasks and sensory modalities is reduced in older adults.”

“The microanalysis of response timing patterns also refined the more general account based on a global development in processing speed (Cerella & Hale, 1994; Kail, 1992; Kail & Salthouse, 1994; Salthouse, 1996 ).”

“Second, according to the processing speed theory (Salthouse, 1996), the decrease with aging in the execution speed of cognitive operation could explain age differences in many aspects of cognitive functioning.”

“For example, general slowing (e.g., Salthouse, 1996) or the inhibition deficit hypothesis (e.g., Hasher & Zacks, 1988) can explain the overall age differences in correct production and response-onset time.”

“Today, we have an excellent understanding on age-related changes in basic cognitive processes such as speed of processing, working memory, episodic memory, and sensory functions [7, 15, 19].”

“Retrieval problems, however, especially with respect to the lexicon, are also typical of COGNITIVE AGING (Salthouse 1996; Zacks, Hasher and Li, 2000).”

“A longstanding finding in various sensory modalities is that in response to a decrease in the quality and quantity of sensory information, more processing time is needed (Fairbanks and Kodman, 1957; Huggins, 1964; Heiman et al., 1986; ShinnCunningham and Best, 2008; Janse, 2009; Salthouse, 1996).”

“Because ageing is associated with slowed processing speed (Cerella, 1990; Salthouse, 1993, 1996), conditions that pose a greater demand on cognitive capacity may take disproportionately longer.”

“…previous works (e.g., Hertzog et al., 2012), pairs of words were displayed in the centre of the screen at a rate of eight seconds in older adults and six seconds in young adults to ensure older adults would not have floor recall performance given cognitive slowing with aging (Salthouse, 1996).”