title: The influence of personality, curriculum, and memory correlates on formal reasoning in young adults and elderly persons.
abstract: The study examined the effects of age, sex, and curriculum upon the cognitive performance of 20 college students and 20 college-educated elderly individuals. Participants were given a battery of formal operational tasks, a measure of field independence/field dependence, a memory-span measure, and a measure of tolerance of ambiguity. The results revealed a lack of significant age differences in any of the measures of formal reasoning. Gender and curriculum, however, were significant predictors of cognitive performance for both cohort groups. These results suggest that within this select sample formal operational thought abilities are present.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D003071:Cognition; D003479:Curriculum; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D013850:Thinking