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Related Experiment Videos

Aging and skilled problem solving.

N Charness

    Journal of Experimental Psychology. General
    |March 1, 1981
    PubMed
    Summary
    This summary is machine-generated.

    Older chess players maintain problem-solving performance by searching the problem space more efficiently, despite age-related memory declines. This highlights plasticity in cognitive aging.

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    Area of Science:

    • Cognitive Psychology
    • Gerontology
    • Human Development

    Background:

    • Information-processing models of problem-solving often use limited age ranges.
    • Gerontology has under-investigated problem-solving tasks and lacks explicit models.
    • Collaboration between cognitive psychology and gerontology can advance understanding of aging and problem-solving.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To investigate the relationship between age, skill, and problem-solving performance in chess.
    • To examine whether aging is associated with irreversible decrement or developmental plasticity in problem-solving.
    • To test a strategy of equating age groups for overall performance while examining underlying cognitive components.

    Main Methods:

    • Selected chess players across a wide range of ages and skill levels, ensuring these variables were uncorrelated.

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  • Administered problem-solving tasks (choose-a-move, speeded end-game evaluation) and memory tasks (recall, recognition).
  • Analyzed the influence of age and skill on accuracy, recall efficiency (chunking), and recognition confidence.

    • Main Results:

    • Skill level was the primary predictor of accuracy in move selection and end-game evaluation.
    • Age and skill jointly predicted recall performance, with age negatively and skill positively related.
    • Efficient chunking in recall was positively associated with skill but negatively with age; recognition confidence decreased with age.

    Conclusions:

    • Older chess players can match the problem-solving performance of younger, equally skilled players.
    • Despite age-related declines in information encoding and retrieval, older adults may compensate through more efficient problem-space search.
    • Existing models of chess skill need revision to incorporate lifespan performance and the role of encoding efficiency across different ages.