Dual-task performance as a function of adult age and task complexity
Abstract
A dual-task procedure was used to examine capacity demands of letter-matching in younger and older adults. Older subjects generally were slower on both tasks than were younger adults, but this difference was especially pronounced for the late stages of category matching, suggesting that retrieval and comparison of category information is particularly demanding for older adults.
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Relative to young people, the performance of the elderly is especially impaired when the complexity of the task is raised.
“In diverse experimental settings and problem domains a so-called complexity effect has been demonstrated, indicating that relative to the young, the performance of the elderly is especially impaired when the complexity of the task is raised (Czaja & Sharit, 1993;Gilinsky & Judd, 1994;Lorsbach & Simpson, 1988).”
From Cognitive load theory and aging: effects of worked examples on training efficiency (2002) · cites this paper as Lorsbach & Simpson, 1988
Performance was especially poorer in the more complex far-transfer domain, which is a confirmation of earlier research findings (Czaja & Sharit, 1993; Gilinsky & Judd, 1994; Lorsbach & Simpson, 1988).
“Performance was especially poorer in the more complex far-transfer domain, which is a confirmation of earlier research findings (Czaja & Sharit, 1993;Gilinsky & Judd, 1994;Lorsbach & Simpson, 1988).”
From Cognitive load theory and aging: effects of worked examples on training efficiency (2002) · cites this paper as Lorsbach & Simpson, 1988
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- Authors
- Lorsbach, T. C., & Simpson, G. B.
- Venue
- Psychology and Aging
- Published
- 1988
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 210-212
- ISSN
- 0882-7974 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1498
- OpenAlex
- W2018216912
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 3.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychology and Aging (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- dual-task performance, aging, older adults, task complexity, letter matching, cognitive aging, processing speed, age differences
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Aging, Attention, Discrimination Learning, Female, Form Perception, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Reaction Time, Mental Recall, Semantics
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