Three groups (n = 54) of participants aged 17–26, 39–51 and 59–76 were asked to solve two types of concept problems to investigate the intellectual correlates of concept identification as a function of stage of learning in adulthood. Predictions derived from the Gf-Gc theory of Horn and Cattell were partially supported in each age group. Differential ability-performance relations as a function of stage of learning were considerably less potent in the elderly versus the young and middle aged. Comparisons both within and between age groups suggested that a dynamic picture of interactions among organismic and task-related variables is preferable, reflecting structural changes in such relationships with practice and cohort membership.
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