title: Age differences in cognitive performance: A study of cultural differences in Historical Context.
abstract: Ethnicity and cultural experience can affect neuropsychological performance, but they are rarely assessed in historical context. Attention measures are considered strongly biologically determined and therefore potentially culture-fair. In this study, we assessed the cross-cultural equivalence of Spanish and English versions of the Trail Making Test (TMT; Reitan, 1958, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 8, 271-276) and the Brief Test of Attention (BTA; Schretlen et al., 1996, The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 10, 80-89) in two large samples of Americans (N = 203) and Spaniards (N = 213), divided into younger and older subgroups. The older Spaniards lived under Franco's political regime (1936-1975), whereas the Americans never experienced such repression. Overall, TMT performance was culture-sensitive, whereas BTA performance was not. However, when both groups were stratified by age, cultural differences in TMT performance were restricted to older participants, suggesting that historical experience across generations might have contributed to the observed differences in cognitive performance. Even such basic cognitive processes as attention, working memory, and resource sharing might be shaped to some degree by historical experiences that contribute to cultural differences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Methods and Experimental Psychology, University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ojeda
authors.affiliation: Department of Methods and Experimental Psychology, University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain.
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aretouli
authors.affiliation: Department of Methods and Experimental Psychology, University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peña
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.|Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Schretlen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D003071:Cognition; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013030:Spain; D014145:Trail Making Test; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Brief Test of Attention; Trail Making Test; attention; cohort effects; cross-cultural neuropsychology; historical experience