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Updated: Oct 3, 2026

Assessment of Age-related Changes in Cognitive Functions Using EmoCogMeter, a Novel Tablet-computer Based Approach
Published on: February 14, 2014
Midlife aging, open-ended planning, and laboratory measures of executive function
S E Garden1, L H Phillips, S E MacPherson
1Clinical Health Psychology Department, University College London, England.
Abstract:
The frontal lobes show early signs of structural and functional change in the course of adult aging. The 1st study of the current article examined whether midlife aging influences open-ended planning, a skill that is particularly sensitive to frontal lobe damage. There were no midlife declines in the ability to carry out variants of the T. Shallice and P. Burgess (1991) Six Elements and Multiple Errands Tests. Younger adults were more likely to break individual task rules. In a 2nd experiment, middle-aged adults performed worse than young adults did on laboratory executive tests sensitive to frontal lobe damage-Self-Ordered Pointing and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (N. M. Fristoe, T. A. Salthouse, & J. L. Woodard, 1997). In spite of changes in novel executive test performance, real-world executive skills appear to be spared in midlife aging.
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