title: [Retention of relevant and irrelevant information in advanced age].
abstract: In the literature on cognitive aging, differences between the cognitive abilities of young and older-adults have long been seen as supporting the view of an age-dependent cognitive deficit. However, findings are equivocal. In the context of more recent findings implying an age-dependent change in the efficiency of attentional and inhibition processes, the present study compares two groups of young and older adults concerning their ability to solve an everyday-like task. In order to effectively solve the task, subjects had to focus on goal-relevant information and, at the same time, inhibit irrelevant information. Subjects selected the relevant items from a shopping list and subsequently participated in a word detection experiment. The results demonstrate older adults taking more time overall to solve the task. However, they were differentiating and maintaining both relevant and irrelevant information in a way comparable to the younger adults. This finding indicates a deficit in older adults concerning the speed component of information processing. However, older adults do not seem to be impaired in their ability to focus on relevant information.
authors.affiliation: Psychologisches Institut, Universität Mainz.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ewert
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over / Q000523:psychology; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D011340:Problem Solving; D011930:Reaction Time; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D014706:Verbal Learning
vernacular_title: Das Behalten von relevanter und irrelevanter Information im höheren Lebensalter.