Education does not protect against age-related decline of switching focal attention in working memory.
In this experimental study, effects of age and education on switching focal attention in working memory were investigated among 44 young (20-30 years) and 40 middle-aged individuals (50-60 years). To this end, a numeric n-back task comprising two lag conditions (1- and 2-back) was administered within groups. The results revealed a comparable increase of reaction time as a function of lag across age groups, but a disproportionate decrease of accuracy in the middle-aged relative to the young group. The latter effect did not interact with education, which challenges the cognitive reserve hypothesis. Moreover, the high-educated middle-aged participants showed a greater increase of reaction time as a function of lag than their low-educated counterparts. Apparently, they were not able to sustain their relatively high response speed across conditions. These results suggest that education does not protect against age-related decline of switching focal attention in working memory.
Van Gerven
Pascal W M
PW
Maastricht University, Faculty of Psychology, Department of Neurocognition, Maastricht, The Netherlands. p.vangerven@psychology.unimaas.nl
Meijer
Willemien A
WA
Jolles
Jelle
J
D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values