Centre for Policy on Ageing



Age-related differences in response preparation — the role of time uncertainty
Author(s)	Louis Bherer, Sylvie Belleville
Journal title	Journals of Gerontology: Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol 59B, no 2, March 2004
Pages	pp P66-P74
Source	http://www.geron.org
Keywords	Cognitive processes ; Mental speed ; Older people ; Young adults [20-25] ; Comparison ; Canada.
Annotation	Two experiments were conducted to explore the ability of younger and older participants to use a variable preparatory interval (PI) to enhance reaction time (RT) in performance. In Experiment 1, 30 older people and 15 young adults completed simple and choice RT tasks with short and long variable PIs. RT decreased with increasing PI duration for both age groups, but the PI effect was larger in older individuals. The results of Experiment 2 (20 older people and 20 young adults) showed an equivalent preparatory effect to older and younger adults when the probability of the shortest PI was increased. These findings suggest that older adults do not prepare as well as younger adults for unlikely events, and that time uncertainty affects age-related differences in response preparation. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-040705214 A
Classmark	DA: DG: B: SD6: 48: 7S
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.