title: Performance of healthy, older adults on the Tower of London Revised: Associations with verbal and nonverbal abilities.
abstract: Neuropsychological studies suggest a subclinical impairment in executive function that occurs with normal aging. This is the first study to examine the performance of healthy older adults on the Tower of London-Revised (TOL-R), as well as the relationship between TOL-R performance and verbal and nonverbal abilities. Performance of 63 older adult participants on the TOL-R and two WAIS-III subtests was compared to that of 35 young adult college students. Group comparisons indicated age differences in TOL-R performance; however, these were eliminated after adjusting for individual differences in Matrix Reasoning performance. In the older adult groups, multiple regression analyses demonstrated that Matrix Reasoning performance was a stronger predictor of TOL-R performance than was chronological age or years of education. These results suggest that performance on the TOL-R is a psychometrically sound executive function measure for older adults and that individual differences in fluid intelligence are more predictive of performance than chronological age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Purchase College, State University of New York, NY 10577-1400, USA. Nancy.Zook@purchase.edu
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zook
authors.forename: Marilyn C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Welsh
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ewing
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*