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Age-related effects of practice and task complexity on card sorting.
Journal of Gerontology
|September 1, 1986
Summary
Older women showed slower card sorting speeds, especially with complex tasks. However, practice improved performance for all ages, with gains maintained over time and across different sorting tasks.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Human Aging Research
- Human Factors
Background:
- Cognitive performance often declines with age.
- Understanding how practice affects age-related differences in cognitive tasks is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of practice on card sorting performance in younger and older adults.
- To examine how task complexity influences age-related differences in cognitive speed.
Main Methods:
- Eight younger (17-25 years) and 8 older (62-75 years) women participated.
- Participants engaged in timed card sorting tasks with varying complexity (number of stimuli, conditional sorting).
- Performance was assessed over five practice sessions and a 10-day follow-up test.
Main Results:
- Older women were generally slower, with age differences widening as task complexity increased.
- Both age groups improved performance with practice, showing increasing response rates.
- Performance gains were retained at follow-up and transferred to novel sorting tasks.
- Practice did not reduce age differences, but the relationship between age and complexity appeared to weaken.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive training through practice can enhance card sorting performance across different age groups.
- While age-related slowing exists, particularly in complex tasks, practice offers benefits.
- The findings suggest potential for cognitive plasticity and adaptation even in older adults.