Stimulus generalization of lifted weights in older and younger women

Older (62 to 86 years) and younger (17 to 30 years) women were essentially similar in acquisition of weight discriminations and in generalized responding to a range of weights during postdiscrimination tests. In both age groups, acquisition was facilitated by increases in the difference between the positive and negative stimuli, and postdiscrimination gradients were displaced away from the value of the negative stimulus, particularly when it was the heavier of the training pair. The finding from personality test scores that the older women were more introverted than the younger ones, together with the absence of age differences in acquisition and generalization, does not support the Eysenck-Gray hypothesis that introversion influences conditioning processes. The results do suggest that basic conditioning processes are maintained with increasing age in healthy older adults.