One hundred and fifteen men between the ages of fifty and ninety-three were administered six cognitive tasks: a verbal intelligence subtest, a nonverbal intelligence subtest, two tests of concrete operations, one test of formal operations, and a problem-solving task. The obtained scores were factor analyzed. Two factors were obtained, a nonverbal, performance factor and a verbal-reasoning factor. Regression analyses in which age, education, occupation, years since retirement, health status, activity level, and marital status were predictor variables performed on the factor scores obtained for each of the factors. The nonverbal performance factor was significantly predicted by age while the verbal factor was significantly predicted by education. None of the other predictors were significant. The results suggest that verbal and nonverbal abilities may be determined by different antecedents. Since different cognitive abilities may have different antecedents and since these antecedents may have different relationships to age, it is important to view adult cognitive development as multidimensional and multidirectional rather than as normative and unidirectional.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BaltesP. B. and WillisS. L., Life-Span Developmental Psychology, Cognitive Functioning, and Social Policy, in Aging From Birth to Death, RileyM. W., (ed.), American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C., 1978.
2.
DenneyN. W., Problem Solving in Later Adulthood: Intervention Research, in Life-Span Development and Behavior, 2, BaltesP. B. and BrimO. G., (eds.), Academic Press, New York, 1979.
3.
KelleyT. L., Crossroads in the Mind of Man: A Study of Differentiable Mental Abilities, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 1928.
CattellR. B., Abilities: Their Structure, Growth, and Action, Houghton, Boston, 1971.
6.
HornJ. L., Organization of Data on Life-Span Development of Human Abilities, in Life-Span Developmental Psychology: Research and Theory, CouletL. R. and BaltesP. B., (eds.), Academic Press, New York, 1979.
7.
HornJ. L., Human Ability Systems, Life-Span Development and Behavior, 1, BaltesP. B., (ed.), Academic Press, New York, 1978.
8.
BirrenJ. E. and MorrisonD. F., Analysis of the WAIS' Subtests in Relation to Age and Education, Journal of Gerontology, 16, pp. 363–369, 1961.
9.
HornJ. L. and CattellR. B., Age Differences in Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence, Acta Psychologica, 26, pp. 107–129, 1967.
10.
RhüdickP. J. and GordonC., The Age Center of New England Study, Intellectual Functioning in Adults, EisdorferC. and BlumJ. E., (eds.), Springer Publishing Company, New York, 1973.
11.
SchaieK. W. and StrotherC. R., A Cross-Sectional Study of Age Changes in Cognitive Behavior, Psychological Bulletin, 70, pp. 671–680, 1968.
12.
StrotherC. R.SchaieK. W., and HorstP., The Relationship Between Advanced Age and Mental Abilities, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 5, pp. 166–170, 1957.
13.
BirrenJ. E., Increments and Decrements in the Intellectual Status of the Aged, Psychiatric Research Reports, 23, pp. 207–214, 1968.
14.
JarvickL. F. and BlumJ. E., Cognitive Declines as Predictors of Mortality in Twin Pairs: A Twenty-Year Longitudional Study of Aging, Prediction of Lifespan, PalamoreE. and JeffersF., (eds.), Heath, Lexington, MA, 1971.
15.
RiegelK. F. and RiegelR. M., Development, Drop, and Death, Developmental Psychology, 6, pp. 306–319, 1972.
16.
SchaieK. W. and Labouvie-ViefG., Generational Versus Ontogenetic Components of Change in Adult Cognitive Behavior: A Fourteen-Year Cross-Sequential Study, Developmental Psychology, 10, pp. 305–320, 1974.
17.
EisdorferC.BusseE. W., and CohenL. D., The WAIS Performance of an Aged Sample: The Relationship Between Verbal and Performance I.Q.'s, Journal of Gerontology, 14, pp. 197–201, 1959.
18.
EisdorferC. and WilkieF., Intellectual Changes with Advancing Age, Intellectual Functioning in Adults, JarvikL. F.EisdorferC., and BlumJ. E., (eds.), Springer Publishing Company, New York, 1973.
19.
FouldsG. A. and RavenJ. C., Neural Changes in Mental Abilities of Adults as Age Advances, Journal of Mental Science, 94, pp. 133–142, 1948.
20.
AnnettM., The Classification of Instances of Our Common Class Concepts by Children and Adults, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 29, pp. 223–236, 1959.
21.
DenneyN. W., Classification Abilities in the Elderly, Journal of Gerontology, 29, pp. 309–314, 1974.
22.
DenneyN. W. and CorneliusS., Class Inclusion and Multiple Classification in Middle and Old Age, Developmental Psychology2, pp. 521–522, 1974.
23.
DenneyN. W. and LennonM. L., Classification: A Comparison of Middle and Old Age, Developmental Psychology, 7, pp. 210–213, 1972.
24.
LooftW. R. and CharlesD. C., Egocentrism and Social Interaction in Young and Old Adults, International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 2, pp. 21–28, 1971.
25.
RubinK., The Relationship Between Spatial and Communicative Ego-Centrism in Children and Young and Old Adults, Journal of Genetic Psychology, 125, pp. 295–301, 1974.
26.
RubinK.AttewellP.TierneyM., and TumoloP., The Development of Spatial Egocentrism and Conservation Across the Life-Span, Developmental Psychology, 9, p. 432, 1973.
27.
DennisW. and MallingerB., Animism and Related Tendencies in Senescence, Journal of Gerontology, 4, pp. 218–221, 1949.
28.
BielbyD. D. and PapaliaD. E., Moral Development and Egocentrism: Their Development and Interrelationship Across the Life-Span, International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 6, pp. 293–308, 1975.
29.
ClaytonV., The Role of Formal Operational Thought in the Aging Process, unpublished manuscript, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1972.
30.
Tomlinson-KeaseyC., Formal Operations in Females From Eleven to Fifty-Six Years of Age, Developmental Psychology, 6, p. 364, 1972.
31.
PapaliaD. E., The Status of Several Conservation Abilities Across the Lifespan, Human Development, 15, pp. 229–243, 1972.
32.
SandersS.LaurendaauM. and BergeronJ., Aging and the Concept of Space: The Conservation of Surfaces, Journal of Gerontology, 21, pp. 281–285, 1966.
33.
RubinK., Extinction of Conservation: A Life-Span Investigation, Developmental Psychology, 12, pp. 51–56, 1976.
34.
SelzerS. C. and DenneyN. W., Conservation Abilities Among Middle-Aged and Elderly Adults, Aging and Human Development, in press, 1978.
35.
MosherF. A. and HornsbyJ. R., On Asking Questions, Studies in Cognitive Growth, BrunerJ. S.OliverR. R., and GreenfieldP. M., (eds.), Wiley, New York, 1966.
36.
HooperF.FitzgeraldJ., and PapaliaD., Piagetian Theory and the Aging Process: Extensions and Speculations, Aging and Human Development, 2, pp. 3–20, 1971.
37.
YoungM. L., Age and Sex Differences in Problem Solving, Journal of Gerontology, 26, pp. 330–336, 1971.
38.
DenneyN. W., Classification Criteria in Middle and Old Age, Developmental Psychology, 10, pp. 901–906, 1974.
39.
KeslerM. S.DenneyN. W., and WhitelyS. E., Factors Influencing Problem Solving in the Middle-Aged and Elderly, Human Development, 19, pp. 310–320, 1976.
40.
PapaliaD.KennedyE. and SheehanN., Conservation of Space in Noninstitutionalized Old People, Journal of Psychology, 84, pp. 75–79, 1973.
41.
PapaliaD. E.SalversonS. M., and TrueM., An Evaluation of Quantity Conservation Performance During Old Age, Aging and Human Development, 4, pp. 103–109, 1973.
42.
StorckP. A.LooftW. R., and HooperF. H., Interrelationships Among Piagetian Tasks and Traditional Measures of Cognitive Abilities in Mature and Aged Adults, Journal of Gerontology, 27, pp. 461–465, 1972.
43.
HollingsheadA. B. and RedlickF. C., Social Class and Mental Illness: A Community Study, Wiley, New York, 1958.
44.
FrenchJ. W., The Description of Aptitude and Achievement Tests in Terms of Rotated Factors, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1951.
