Fluency, Flexibility, and Originality in Later Adulthood

The Effect of Race and Health-Related Factors on Naming and Memory

“…Other characteristics related to better functioning on cognitive measures include female gender (for verbal tasks) (Bleeker, Bolla-Wilson, Agnew, & Meyers, 1988;Paulo, Troester, & Ryan, 1997;Youngjohn, Larrabee, & Crook, 1991), increased education (e.g., Denny & Palmer, 1981;Ripple & Jaquish, 1981;Selzer & Denny, 1980), better physical health (e.g., Elias et al, 1990;Perlmutter et al, 1988;Perlmutter & Nyquist, 1990), and a higher level of activity (Albert et al, 1995). An increased level of depression may be related to poorer performance (e.g., Dufouil, Fuhrer, Darfigues, & Alperovitch, 1996;Fuhrer et al, 1992;Scherr et al, 1988), whereas smoking holds an ambiguous status (Hebert et al, 1993;Letenneur et al, 1994;Warburton, 1992).…”

Aging and the Quality of Faculty Job Performance

“…The generally held view is that scholarly productivity decreases with age and is explained by decrementalists such as Alpaugh and Birren (1977) and Ripple and Jaquish (1981) as what is expected. Although we have not seen biological evidence to support this expectation of a more or less steady decline, the psychological explanations of less interest and motivation at older ages that are supported by Fulton and Trow (1974) seem to fit what many academics and administrators observe in their colleagues (e.g., Oromaner, 1981).…”

The academic performance of older academics: A review

“…While Alpaugh and Birren (1977) and Ripple and Jaquish (1981) infer that scholarly productivity decreases with age because that is 'what is expected' in academia, they do not provide empirical evidence to support their assertions. Indeed, there is little evidence which shows that research performance, as measured by a number of indicators (e.g., publication of peer reviewed articles, receipt of prizes for scholarly work, funding of grant proposals, etc.)…”