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Updated: Aug 3, 2026
10:13
Assessment of Age-related Changes in Cognitive Functions Using EmoCogMeter, a Novel Tablet-computer Based Approach
Published on: February 14, 2014
Perceived self-efficacy and everyday problem solving among young and older adults
Daniele Artistico1, Daniel Cervone, Lina Pezzuti
1Department of Psychology, University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy. daniele.artistico@uniroma1.it
Psychology and Aging
|March 19, 2003
Summary
Young adults excel at abstract and age-specific problems, but older adults show superior self-efficacy and performance on challenges relevant to their age group. This highlights the impact of ecological relevance on cognitive abilities across the lifespan.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Gerontology
Background:
- Age-related cognitive changes are often studied using abstract tasks.
- The ecological validity of problem-solving tasks can influence performance and self-efficacy.
- Understanding how age and problem relevance interact is crucial for gerontological research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how age differences in self-efficacy and problem-solving performance are affected by the ecological relevance of problems.
- To compare performance on abstract versus ecologically relevant problems for young and older adults.
Main Methods:
- Development of novel everyday problem-solving stimuli tailored to young adults, older adults, and common issues.
- Assessment of self-efficacy perceptions and problem-solving performance on these stimuli.
- Inclusion of an abstract problem-solving task (Tower of Hanoi) for comparison.
Main Results:
- Young adults demonstrated higher self-efficacy and performance on abstract tasks and problems relevant to younger individuals.
- Older adults exhibited greater self-efficacy and performance on problems specifically relevant to older adults.
- A reversal of performance patterns was observed based on the ecological relevance of the problems.
Conclusions:
- Ecological relevance significantly moderates age-related differences in self-efficacy and problem-solving.
- Cognitive performance is not uniformly better in younger adults; it is context-dependent.
- Future research should consider the ecological validity of tasks when examining age and cognition.
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