Methodological and theoretical implications of intraindividual variability in perceptual-motor performance.
As an individual differences variable, lability (within-person variability) has often been neglected even though it has been shown to predict key outcomes such as mortality. We examine intraindividual variability in perceptual-motor performance and relate it to chronological age in a sample of adults. The magnitude of between-session variability was found to average between 25% and 50% of the between-person variability and was equivalent in magnitude to the variation that was apparent across an age range of 12 to 27 years in cross-sectional comparisons. Age is related to the magnitude of intraindividual variability, which in turn is negatively related to performance on other cognitive tasks. Various implications of the findings are discussed.
Nesselroade
John R
JR
Psychology Department, The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400, USA. jrn8z@virginia.edu
Salthouse
Timothy A
TA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009039:Motion Perception; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012691:Serial Learning