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Assessment of Age-related Changes in Cognitive Functions Using EmoCogMeter, a Novel Tablet-computer Based Approach
Published on: February 14, 2014
Estimated age effects in athletic events and chess
1Cowles Foundation, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8281, USA. ray.fair@yale.edu
Experimental Aging Research
|November 30, 2006
Summary
Performance declines with age, with physical activities showing faster declines than chess. Decline is linear until age 70, then becomes quadratic, especially for longer distances and in women's swimming.
Area of Science:
- Sports Science
- Gerontology
- Human Performance Analysis
Background:
- Assessing age-related performance decline is crucial for understanding human aging.
- Previous studies often face selection bias and limited age ranges.
- Record best performances offer a robust dataset for analyzing decline across a wide age spectrum.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify age-related performance decline in chess and various physical activities.
- To compare decline rates across different domains and demographics.
- To model the functional form of performance decline over the lifespan.
Main Methods:
- Utilized record best performances by age for chess, track and field, road running, and swimming.
- Employed a flexible functional form to estimate rates of decline.
- Analyzed data across extensive age ranges (35-100 years) to minimize selection bias.
Main Results:
- Performance decline shows a linear trend between ages 35-70, followed by a quadratic trend thereafter.
- Chess performance declines significantly less than physical activities.
- Decline rates are higher for longer distances and greater in women's swimming compared to men's.
Conclusions:
- Age-related performance decline follows distinct patterns in cognitive and physical domains.
- Longer duration activities and female athletes experience more pronounced age-related declines.
- Record best performances provide a valuable, bias-free dataset for aging research.
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