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      Changes in executive control across the life span: examination of task-switching performance.

      1 , ,
      Developmental psychology

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          Abstract

          A study was conducted to examine changes in executive control processes over the life span. More specifically, changes in processes responsible for preparation and interference control that underlie the ability to flexibly alternate between two different tasks were examined. Individuals (N = 152) ranging in age from 7 to 82 years participated in the study. A U-shaped function was obtained for switch costs (i.e., the time required to switch between tasks compared with a repeated-task baseline), with larger costs found for young children and older adults. Switch costs were reduced with practice, particularly for children. All age groups benefited from increased preparation time, with larger benefits observed for children and older adults. Adults benefited to a greater extent than children when the interval between the response to one task and the cue indicating which task to perform next was lengthened, which suggested faster decay of interference from the old task set for adults than for children. A series of hierarchical analyses indicated that the age-related variance in task-switching performance is independent, at least in part, from the age-related variance in other cognitive processes such as perceptual speed and working memory. The results are discussed in terms of the development and decline of executive control processes across the life span.

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          Effects of Different Brain Lesions on Card Sorting

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            Processing speed as a mental capacity.

            Throughout the lifespan, there are pronounced age differences in speed of processing, differences that are consistently related to performance on measures of higher-order cognition. In this article, we examine domain-specific and global explanations of these age differences in processing speed; we conclude that although experience can play a role in age differences in speed, there is also evidence that a general mechanism limits speeded performance. We also review research that shows the influence of processing speed on the quality of performance on nonspeeded tasks such as reasoning and memory. We suggest that speed of processing should be viewed as a fundamental part of the architecture of the cognitive system as it develops across the entire lifespan.
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              Foreperiod and simple reaction time.

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Dev Psychol
                Developmental psychology
                0012-1649
                0012-1649
                Sep 2001
                : 37
                : 5
                Affiliations
                [1 ] Beckman Institute and Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 61801, USA.
                Article
                10.1037/0012-1649.37.5.715
                11552766
                4e76faae-c31d-4a50-9155-62f0a5cafd05
                History

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