Aging and intellectual ability in young, middle-aged, and older educated adults: preliminary results from a sample of college faculty.
52 members of the college community at a small liberal arts university (Ages 25-72) were administered a 60-min. battery of tests measuring different aspects of cognitive performance. Stepwise regression equations detected significant relationships between the predictor variables of age and education and measures of the WAIS-R, the Logical Memory subtests and Trails A. Age predicted performance on Trails A, the Digit Symbol subtest of the WAIS-R, the Logical Memory II component of the Wechsler Memory Scale-R, some measures of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and Full Scale WAIS-R IQ. Education was a significant predictor of performance on the remaining WAIS-R subtests and the Failure. To Maintain Response Sets measure of the card sorting. However, the results of the present study also suggest that over-all cognitive decline with advancing age is not an eventuality, at least among the highly educated, intellectually active individuals.
Compton
D M
DM
Department of Psychology, Georgia College and State University, Milledgeville 31061, USA. dcompton@mail.gac.peachnet.edu
Bachman
L D
LD
Logan
J A
JA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005178:Faculty; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D014888:Wechsler Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data