Biomedical subjects

P W Foos

Publications and source records attributed to P W Foos.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1989

Adult age differences in working memory.

Two experiments were conducted to determine whether adult age differences in working memory should be attributed to less efficient processing, a smaller working memory storage capacity, or both. In Experiment 1, young, middle-age, and older adults solved three addition problems before giving the answers to any. Older adults added as well as young and middle-age adults but showed a more pronounced serial position curve across the three problem positions. In Experiment 2, young and older adults constructed linear orderings (e.g., ABCD) from pairwise information presented in sentences (e.g., BC). Manipulations involving processing (e.g., type of sentence) did not interact with age differences, but those involving storage capacity (e.g., ordering length) did. All main effects and interactions support the hypothesis of a smaller storage capacity but do not rule out some processing deficit in older adults.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

Age differences in memory for two common objects.

An experiment was conducted to see if the laboratory findings of poorer recognition memory performance and more cautious responding by elderly adults could be duplicated in a nonlaboratory setting using common, everyday objects. Thirty old and 30 young adults were asked to sort drawings of the top side of a United States penny and of a pushbutton telephone dial into the following four categories: (1) the one correct drawing, (2) drawings that could be correct if the first were not, (3) possibly correct drawings, and (4) incorrect drawings. Results showed that older adults were more often incorrect but more confident in their responses than young adults.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Adult age differences in the storage of information in working memory.

The performance of 97 young and 91 old persons were compared to determine if a deficiency in working memory resources for processing, storage, or allocation could be detected. Persons simultaneously performed a storage and one of two processing tasks while instructed to allocate resources to processing, storage, or both tasks. The storage task involved remembering the names of one, three, or five persons. Processing tasks involved solving addition problems presented on flashcards or answering common knowledge questions. Results showed increased age differences on the storage task as demands for resources increased but no differences on processing tasks. Individuals seemed unable to allocate resources as instructed. A comparison of young-old and old-old groups showed the same results as those obtained comparing young and old groups and support the hypothesis of a deficiency of storage, but not processing, resources in working memory for old, especially old-old, adults.

Adolescent↗