Are There Age-Related Differences in the Ability to Learn Configural Responses?
Rachel Clark1, Michael Freedberg1, Eliot Hazeltine2
1Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States of America.
Plos One
|August 29, 2015
Summary
Cognitive aging may not significantly impair incidental learning of configural response relationships. Older adults showed similar learning rates to younger adults on a task involving associative binding and motor learning.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Cognitive abilities, crucial for independence, often decline with age.
- Motor learning is generally preserved in older adults, unlike associative binding tasks.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related differences in configural response learning.
- To determine if associative binding aspects of configural learning are affected by aging.
Main Methods:
- Young (mean age 24) and older (mean age 66.5) adults performed a configural learning task.
- The task involved aspects of both motor learning and associative binding.
Main Results:
- Older adults exhibited slower reaction times and lower accuracy than young adults.
- Despite performance differences, older adults demonstrated comparable learning rates to young adults on the configural learning score.
Conclusions:
- Incidental learning of configural response relationships appears resilient to cognitive aging.
- Configural response learning tasks offer insights into age-related learning constraints.
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