Aging and multiple cue probability learning: the case of inverse relationships

Multiple Cue Probability Learning (MCPL) is an important cognitive ability for all age groups that, like other cognitive abilities, depends on information processing speed and working memory capacity--skills that have been found to decline with age. The relation between age and ability to learn direct and inverse probabilistic relationships was studied in two MCPL experiments involving subjects in three age groups. In the first experiment, subjects learned two three-cue tasks following the MCPL paradigm. In the first task, all cues had a direct relation (DR) with the criterion. In the second, one cue had an inverse relation (IR) with the criterion. In the DR task, older subjects were able to learn nearly as well as younger subjects. In the IR task, older subjects performed significantly worse than younger subjects due to an inability to use the inverse cue. In a second experiment involving the IR task, task information (TI) was given, that is, the relation between each cue and the criterion was explicitly described. This eliminated the need for subjects to discover the inverse relation on their own, thus reducing the burden on working memory. Provision of TI resulted in improved performance for the 20-30 and 65-75 year old groups, but not in the 76-90 year old group. Significant differences in performance among age groups remained. These results cannot be fully explained by differences in working memory capacity. It is suggested that flexibility of functioning also plays a role.