Stimulus parameters that produce age differences in block design performance.
Administered block designs that varied according to two parameters, Task Uncertainty and Perceptual Cohensiveness, to 83 persons 49 years of age or older. Performance was adjusted to remove motor speed differences. Performance changed significantly over the age span as a function of Task Uncertainty. From 49 years up, performance did not change as a function of Perceptual Cohesiveness. An analysis that included a group of 20 persons 30 years of age or younger yielded an interaction of Age and Perceptual Cohesiveness. From 49 years on, analytic or image segmentation processes do not seem to change, but other information processing becomes slower.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D003118:Color Perception; D005556:Form Perception; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time