A Quick Test of Cognitive Speed: patterns of age groups 15 to 95 years.
A Quick Test of Cognitive Speed color, form, and color-form naming were administered to 300 normal participants (ages 15-95 years) to explore the effects of age on perceptual (single-dimension naming) and cognitive speed (dual-dimension naming). Naming time means (sec.) were consistent with previous findings. Correlations between age and naming time were low, but significant. Linear regression with age as a factor indicated time increases of 1 sec. per decade for colors and color-form combination naming and of 6 sec. per decade for form naming. Participants were divided into age cohorts, each covering a decade, and naming times were transformed to normalized z scores. The normalized means were similar for color, form, and color-form naming and increased by about 1 SD between ages 15-25 and 75-85 years. The ranges were similar across cohorts, about 2 SD. The findings concur with age patterns for visual-pattern comparison speed, fluid intelligence, and working memory reported by Salthouse in 2004.
Wiig
Elisabeth H
EH
Knowledge Research Institute, Inc., Arlington, Texas, USA. ehwiig@krii.com
Nielsen
Niels Peter
NP
Jacobson
James M
JM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003118:Color Perception; D005556:Form Perception; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011930:Reaction Time; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012016:Reference Values; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014705:Verbal Behavior