Effect of age on forward and backward digit spans

Grégoire, Jacques; Linden, Martial Van der

doi:10.1080/13825589708256642

Cited by 199 publications

(141 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The results of the present study confirm the general expectation that verbal and visuospatial span performance decline with increasing age, and support previous research indicating that working memory declines with increasing age (Baeckman et al, 2000;Botwinick & Storandt, 1974;Fisk & Warr, 1996;Gregoire & Van der Linden, 1997;Salthouse et al, 1995;Vecchi & Cornoldi, 1999). It was noted that spatial span in general demonstrated greater agerelated decline than digit span.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…In considering the assumption as to whether backward span differentially demands central executive resources, our results concur with other recent research studies that both forward and backward span tasks recruit central executive resources for successful performance (Gregoire & Van der Linden, 1997;Miyake et al, 2001). While this alternative hypothesis is parsimonious with the present results, it initially appears to conflict with the theoretical foundations of WM (Baddeley, 1996(Baddeley, , 2001.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

“…However, Gregoire and Van der Linden (1997) found that in the standardization of the French adaptation of the WAIS-R digit span task (a sample of 1000 participants aged between 16-79), increasing age did not increase the discrepancy between forward and backward digit span performance. Their findings indicated an age-related decline in performance of both forward and backward digit span, but the rate of decline for the two tasks did not significantly differ.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Age-related decrease in forward and backward digit span performances have been reported (Babcock & Salthouse, 1990;Gregoire & Van der Linden, 1997), and a metaanalysis of 14 studies by Babcock and Salthouse (1990) indicated that age-related decreases for backward digit span performance were greater than those for forward span (14% to 8% respectively). This analysis supported the clinical perspective that, with advancing age, forward digit span tends to remain stable, whereas backward digit span tends to decline (Lezak, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

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Effect of age on forward and backward span tasks

Hester

Kinsella

Ong

2004

J Int Neuropsychol Soc

171

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The central executive component of working memory has been argued to play an important role in the performance of span tasks, particularly backward span. Age-related decline in central executive function has also been reported, and yet there have been inconsistent findings to indicate that with increasing age, the discrepancy between forward and backward span increases. A secondary analysis of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Third Edition standardization sample (N 5 1030) was performed to investigate this relationship. It was hypothesized on the basis of past research indicating an age-related decline in central executive performance, that backward digit and spatial span performance would decrease at a greater rate than forward span performance. However, the results indicated that the rate of age-related performance decline was equivalent for both measures. It is proposed that both forward and backward span tasks recruit central executive resources for successful task performance. (JINS, 2004, 10, 475-481.)

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Effect of age on forward and backward span tasks

Hester

Kinsella

Ong

2004

J Int Neuropsychol Soc

171

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“…Theoretical memory spans from the present EPIC model compared to corresponding empirical memory spans as a function of age in Gregoire and Van der Linden (1997). Upper and lower pairs of curves show results for forward and backward memoryspan tasks, respectively.…”

Section: Evects Of Old Age On the Model's Parameters Frommentioning

confidence: 99%

Executive-process interactive control: A unified computational theory for answering 20 questions (and more) about cognitive ageing

Meyer

Glass

Seymour

et al. 2001

European Journal of Cognitive Psychology

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Although the eVects of ageing on human information processing and performance have been studied extensively, many fundamental questions about cognitive ageing remain to be answered de nitively. For example, what are the sources of age-related slowing? How much is working-memory capacity reduced in older adults? Is time-sharing ability lost with age? Answering such questions requires a uni ed computational theory that characterises the interactive operations of many component mental processes and integrates diverse data on cognitive ageing. Toward ful lling this requirement, an executive-process interactive control (EPIC) architecture has been extended to model performance of both young and older adults. EPIC models yield accurate accounts of ageing eVects on reaction times and accuracy in basic dual-task and working-memory paradigms. From these accounts, it appears that time-sharing ability and working-memory capacity decrease relatively little until after 70 years of age. Before age 70, at least some apparent performance decrements may be attributable to conservative executive processes and ineYcient task procedures rather than decreased ''hardware'' functionality. By clarifying and deepening such insights, uni ed computational theories like EPIC will help answer many questions about cognitive ageing.

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Functional neuroimaging of memory: Implications for cognitive aging

Langley

Madden

2000

Microsc. Res. Tech.

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Our understanding of the ways in which changes in specific neural systems mediate adult age differences in memory is rapidly increasing, due in no small part to the advent of functional neuroimaging techniques. This article reviews age-related changes in memory performance obtained with behavioral measures, describes models of the neural mechanisms of memory, and derives predictions from these models regarding age-related changes in brain activation patterns. The neuroimaging findings obtained to date support models emphasizing the role of prefrontal cortex in age-related changes in memory functioning, especially for episodic memory retrieval. In general, neural activation associated with episodic memory encoding is regionally similar for younger and older adults but relatively lower in magnitude for older adults. During retrieval, activation that is restricted to the right prefrontal cortex for younger adults is more likely to be bilateral for older adults. Prefrontal activation exhibits an age-related increase when working memory tasks require simple storage and an age-related decrease when working memory requires higher-level executive processes. Although the evidence is limited, behavioral performance and activation patterns appear to be similar among younger and older adults on tests of semantic (context-independent) and implicit memory. We conclude that several methodological issues, such as defining the relation between brain structure and function, and determining the relationship between performance and activation, are particularly important for understanding age-related changes. Future directions for aging research include further investigation of the relation between encoding and retrieval and the identification of both spared and impaired neural systems. Microsc.

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Effect of age on forward and backward digit spans

Cited by 199 publications

References 23 publications

Effect of age on forward and backward span tasks

Effect of age on forward and backward span tasks

Executive-process interactive control: A unified computational theory for answering 20 questions (and more) about cognitive ageing

Functional neuroimaging of memory: Implications for cognitive aging

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