title: Effect of age on dual-task performance in children and adults.
abstract: Age effects on dual-task costs were examined in healthy adults (Exp. 1) and in typically developing children (Exp. 2). In both experiments, individual differences in performance on the single-task components were titrated so that any age differences in dual-task costs could not be attributed to differences in single-task performance. Dual-task costs were found, but there were no age-related differences in these costs in older relative to younger adults, in 7-year-old relative to 9-year-old children, or across all four age groups. The results from these experiments suggest that previously reported age differences in dual-task costs, in both healthy ageing and child development, may be due to a failure to adequately equate single-task difficulty.
authors.affiliation: Neurocognitive Development Unit, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia. mike@psy.uwa.edu.au
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Romola S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Bucks
authors.forename: Donna M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Bayliss
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Della Sala
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult