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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Taking a computational approach to aging
— the SPAN theory of working memory | | Author(s) | Michael D Byrne |
| Journal title | Psychology and Aging, vol 13, no 2, June 1998 |
| Pages | pp 309-322 |
| Keywords | Memory and Reminiscence ; Mental ageing ; Cognitive processes ; Theory. |
| Annotation | The decline of working memory capacity associated with normal adult ageing is well-known, but the cause of this decline is less well-established. One prominent proposal is that working memory decline is caused by a reduction in basic information-processing speed; but slowing in itself is not sufficient to demonstrate a decrease in working capacity. This article presents a production system theory of working memory (SPAN) based on established mechanisms: slowing, decay, and displacement. Models of two tasks - digit symbol and computation span - which have been prominent in research on slowing, are presented in detail. These models demonstrate that slowing is sufficient to produce differences in these tasks, and they provide a quantitative match to observed young-old differences as well. This advance for slowing theory also demonstrates the viability of computational tools in ageing research. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-980812008 A |
| Classmark | DB: D6: DA: 4D |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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