Cited by 5,902Aging and Gerontology ResearchCognitive Abilities and TestingCognitive Functions and Memory

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The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition

Salthouse, Timothy A.·1996·Psychological Review

DOI 10.1037/0033-295x.103.3.403

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Abstract

Advancing adult age is associated with reduced processing speed, which constrains cognitive performance.

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Background
Towards the Understanding of Healthy and Pathological Aging Through MEG
Maestú, F., Solesio‐Jofre, E., & Bajo, R. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-00087-5_28 · Cited by 3
Intelligence in Adulthood
Hertzog, C. K. (2019) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108770422.010 · Cited by 3
The Western Australia Olfactory Memory Test: Reliability and Validity in a Sample of Older Adults
Seneviratne, R., Weinborn, M., Badcock, D. R., Gavett, B. E., Laws, M., Taddei, K., Martins, R. N., & Sohrabi, H. R. (2022) · Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology · doi:10.1093/arclin/acac048 · Cited by 2
Implicit Learning in Healthy Aging
Howard, D. V., & Howard, J. H. (2022) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197501573.003.0007 · Cited by 2
What Drives Animal Fluency Performance in Cantonese-Speaking Chinese Patients with Adult-Onset Psychosis?
Hui, C. L. M., See, S. H. W., Chiu, T.-C., Pintos, A. S., Kroyer, J. M., Suen, Y. N., Lee, E. H. M., Chan, S. K. W., Chang, W. C., Elvevåg, B., et al. (2023) · Brain Sciences · doi:10.3390/brainsci13030372 · Cited by 2
Exploring Effects of Age on Conflict Processing in the Light of Practice in a Large-Scale Dataset
Reiber, F., & Ulrich, R. (2023) · Experimental Aging Research · doi:10.1080/0361073x.2023.2214051 · Cited by 2
“One of the most prominent findings in research on cognitive aging is a slowing of RTs in decision making tasks (see Salthouse, 1996).”
Background
Contributions of Cardiovascular Burden, Peripheral Inflammation, and Brain Integrity on Digital Clock Drawing Performance in Non-Demented Older Adults
Dion, C., Tanner, J. J., Libon, D. J., & Price, C. C. (2023) · Journal of Alzheimer s Disease · doi:10.3233/jad-221011 · Cited by 2
“Slower time-based metrics are well-known to be associated with increasing age [28, 29] and greater MRI white matter disease burden [30–32].”
Evidence for an age-related decline in feature-based attention
Lanssens, A., Desender, K., & Gillebert, C. R. (2023) · Aging Neuropsychology and Cognition · doi:10.1080/13825585.2023.2271583 · Cited by 2
“Such age-related declines might originate from a lower availability of processed information for high-level cognitive functions (Cerella, 1985; Salthouse, 1996) due to deficits in sensory processes (e.g., visual acuity) (Lindenberger & Baltes, 1994; Schneider & Pichora-Fuller, 2000) and a general…”
Processing speed and executive functioning in relation to off-topic verbosity among young adults and older adults
Barnett, M. D., Smith, L. N., & Coldiron, A. M. (2024) · International Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1080/00207454.2024.2327401 · Cited by 2
“In contrast, the processing-speed theory argues that age-related declines in higher-order cognitive processing (i.e. executive functioning) may instead result entirely from age-related declines in processing speed, which have been found consistently across psychological literature [19, 25,26].”
Examining the role of stimulus complexity in item and associative memory
Endemann, R., & Kamp, S. (2024) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-024-01590-z · Cited by 2
“Older adults also exhibit reduced processing resources (Salthouse, 1996) and show a perceptual decline (Gulya et al., 2002; Park & Puglisi, 1985), which may lead to an additional demand in processing complex images.”
Cortical lobar volume reductions associated with homocysteine-related subcortical brain atrophy and poorer cognition in healthy aging
Song, H., Bharadwaj, P. K., Raichlen, D. A., Habeck, C. G., Grilli, M. D., Huentelman, M. J., Hishaw, G. A., Trouard, T. P., & Alexander, G. E. (2024) · Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnagi.2024.1406394 · Cited by 5
“Deficits in processing speed have been shown to be a leading indicator of age-related differences in cognition (Salthouse, 1996), and to predict progression from being cognitively unimpaired to mild cognitive impairment in a recent study (Rabin et al., 2020).”
BackgroundMethodInfluential
Implicit motor imagery: examining motor vs. visual strategies in laterality judgments among older adults
Saran, A., & Marotta, J. J. (2024) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1445152 · Cited by 2
“Cognitive functions, such as speed of processing (i.e., the speed at which a cognitive task is completed), tend to decline with age (Salthouse, 1979, 1980, 1996).”
Background
The Usefulness of the Regression-Based Normed SKT Short Cognitive Performance Test in Detecting Cognitive Impairment in a Community Sample
Stemmler, M., Arnold, M., Numbers, K. T., Kochan, N. A., Sachdev, P. S., & Brodaty, H. (2024) · Diagnostics · doi:10.3390/diagnostics14192199 · Cited by 2
“For the English norming, we recommend a cut-off of 3, especially if the mean age of the sample is high (c. f [33]) (here it was about 88 years); otherwise, a cut-off of 4 should be considered.”
Background
Decomposing working memory subprocesses with the reference-back paradigm: Event-related potentials and age-related differences
Gaál, Z. A., Nagy, B., Czigler, I., Csizmadia, P., Petró, B., & Kojouharova, P. (2024) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0307351 · Cited by 3
A case for characterizing declarative memory commission errors in healthy aging
Popoviciu, A., & Richmond, L. L. (2025) · Frontiers in Cognition · doi:10.3389/fcogn.2024.1505492 · Cited by 2
Behavioral evidence that repetitive responses in a free-movement pattern Y-maze are associated with ageing-related deficit in working memory
Redhead, E. S., Rolfe-Tarrant, J., Wood, A. P., & Parker, M. O. (2025) · Behavioural Processes · doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2025.105152 · Cited by 3
“…capacity (Peltz et al, 2011). r It is also possible that older participants required more trials to learn the contingency or relied on a less effortful strategy, such as repeating previous responses, which may reflect a preference for strategies that minimise cognitive load (Salthouse, 1996).”
Aging modulates large-scale neural network interactions during speech comprehension
Rysop, A. U., Williams, K. A., Schmitt, L., Meinzer, M., Obleser, J., & Hartwigsen, G. (2025) · Neurobiology of Aging · doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2025.02.005 · Cited by 3
“The ability to decode speech from a noisy signal relies on general cognitive functions, such as working memory and processing speed (Dryden et al., 2017; R ¨ onnberg et al., 2013), which are known to decline with age (Salthouse, 1996; Salthouse et al., 2003).”
The Detrimental Effects of Mental Fatigue on Cognitive and Physical Performance in Older Adults Are Accentuated by Age and Attenuated by Habitual Physical Activity
López-Rodríguez, R., Ring, C., & García, J. D. (2025) · Journal of Aging and Physical Activity · doi:10.1123/japa.2024-0227 · Cited by 2
Adaptive Technologies for Aging Populations
Turcas, N., Anderson, J. A. E., & West, R. L. (2025) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-92970-0_9 · Cited by 2
Dual-task costs of listening while driving in older and younger adults
Bak, K., Arnold, K., Darakjian, L., et al. (2025) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0324657 · Cited by 2
“These changes can include: elevated auditory pure-tone thresholds and reduced auditory processing speed and accuracy, working memory, inhibitory control, divided attention capacity, and task switching/planning [1–7].”
Depressive symptoms and cognitive function in the U.S. POINTER study
Krueger, K. R., Garcia, K. R., Farias, S. T., Sachs, B. C., York, M., Lee, A. K. W., Hartman, E. R. T., Chan, M., Thro, A. A., Caudle, B. A., et al. (2025) · The Journals of Gerontology Series B · doi:10.1093/geronb/gbaf114 · Cited by 2
Investigating age-related differences in semantic control mechanisms involved in creative cognition
Patel, T., MacPherson, S. E., & Hoffman, P. (2025) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-025-01753-6 · Cited by 2
“Importantly, speed of processing is a cognitive ability that is preferentially affected by aging (e.g., Salthouse, 1996), making it particularly relevant to the present study.”
Comparing and scaling fMRI features for brain-behavior prediction
Schöttner, M., Bolton, T. A. W., Patel, J. H., & Hagmann, P. (2025) · Imaging Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/imag.a.141 · Cited by 2
A Novel Approach Using Serious Game Data to Predict the WISC-V Processing Speed Index in Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Machine Learning Study
Kim, J.-S., Jeong, Y. J., Kim, S., Jun, S. J., Park, J.-Y., Hoe, H., & Song, J.-H. (2025) · JMIR Serious Games · doi:10.2196/73408 · Cited by 2
“Higher PSI scores indicate faster and more accurate visual decision-making, reflecting greater efficiency in time management for learning tasks and assessments [36].”

Authors: Salthouse, T. A.
Affiliations: Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
Corresponding author: Salthouse, Timothy A.
Venue: Psychological Review
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Published: 1996
Volume: 103
Issue: 3
Pages: 403-428
ISSN: 0033-295X (ISSN-L)
1939-1471
DOI: 10.1037/0033-295x.103.3.403
OpenAlex: W2039752037
Semantic Scholar: 8ed819fe682efc79801d73e6343885be23d36fb8
Cited by: 5,902
References: 113
Citations by year: 2026: 269 · 2025: 251 · 2024: 232 · 2023: 214 · 2022: 217 · 2021: 273 · 2020: 240 · 2019: 296 · 2018: 280 · 2017: 273 · 2016: 284 · 2015: 309 · 2014: 267 · 2013: 266 · 2012: 283
FWCI: 81.40
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Psychological Review (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders: National Institute on Aging (R37AG006826)
Topics: Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
Keywords: processing speed, age differences in cognition, fluid intelligence, cognitive aging
MeSH terms: Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Attention, Cognition, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Reaction Time

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The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition

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