Relationships between strategy switching and strategy switch costs in young and older adults: a study in arithmetic problem solving.
BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: This study investigated age-related differences in within-item strategy switching (i.e., revising initial strategy choices to select a better strategy while solving a given problem) and in strategy switch costs (i.e., longer latencies when participants switch strategies than when they do not switch strategy during strategy execution).


METHODS
In a computational estimation task, participants had to give approximate products to two-digit multiplication problems (e.g., 41×67) while rounding up (i.e., do 50×70 for 41×67) or rounding down (i.e., do 40×60 for 41×67) operands to their nearest decades. After executing a cued strategy during 1000 ms, participants had the possibility to switch to another strategy (or repeat the same strategy) in a selection condition. In an execution condition, participants were forced to repeat the same strategy or to switch to another strategy.


RESULTS
It was found that (1) older adults were less able than young adults to switch strategy after starting to execute a cued strategy (36.1% vs. 45.8%); (2) older adults showed larger switch costs than young adults (422 vs. 223 ms); and (3) strategy switches and strategy switch costs correlated in older adults but not in young adults.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings have important implications for our understanding of the mechanisms underlying within-item strategy switching and aging effects on these mechanisms as well as, more generally, of strategic variations during cognitive aging.
a Aix-Marseille Université and CNRS , Marseille , France.
Julien
J
Taillan
Eléonore
E
Ardiale
Patrick
P
Lemaire
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008875:Middle Aged; D011340:Problem Solving / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult