title: Adult age differences in the speed and capacity of information processing: 2. An electrophysiological approach.
abstract: A total of 60 subjects performed different variants of the Sternberg memory search task in an experiment designed to evaluate aging differences in the speed of the human information-processing system. The present study examined the nature of the age-related slowing using convergent methodologies of Sternberg's additive factors logic, the speed-accuracy trade-off, and the P300 component of the event-related brain potential. These methodologies revealed that a substantial component of slowing was manifest in perceptual encoding, response criterion adjustment, and response execution, with a lesser component related to memory search speed.
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Strayer
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Wickens
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Braune
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001143:Arousal; D001288:Attention; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time