Is Cognitive Aging All Downhill? Current Theory versus Reality

MacKay, Donald G.; James, Lori E.

doi:10.1159/000057068

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The investigators concluded that these findings support a resource theory of working memory executive processes. According to MacKay and James (2001), however, specifying the processes that give rise to the neural activity reflected in brain scans is "notoriously problematic on theoretical, empirical and technical grounds" (p. 293).…”

Section: Limitations Of Limited-capacity Resource Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working Memory and Mathematical Cognitive Development: Limitations of Limited-Capacity Resource Models

Berch

2008

Developmental Neuropsychology

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My charge in writing this commentary is to present a systematic review and appraisal of the articles comprising this special issue. To begin with, I want to underscore that this collection of articles unequivocally affirms that the study of individual differences in the development of mathematical abilities and its neuropsychological correlates has made significant progress since the publication of David Geary's (1993) seminal paper on this topic 15 years ago. Moreover, as the studies reported in these articles make several important empirical and methodological contributions to our understanding of mathematical cognitive development, they will no doubt serve as catalysts for the next generation of advances in this field. However, in addition to extolling such accomplishments, it is my responsibility to examine the shortcomings of these papers, if any, highlight whatever shared features can be identified, arrive at some general conclusions about this body of work, and formulate some judicious recommendations for future research.Given the relatively circumscribed scope of the subject matter treated here, one might anticipate that the type of analysis I just described should be reasonably straightforward. However, even a cursory reading of these articles reveals that they cover a comparatively broad range of age groups, populations, mathematical domains, research methods, and data-analytic strategies. More specifically, the age levels of the participants range from preschoolers to young adults, and the populations studied include typically developing children, youngsters with low achieve-

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Section: Limitations Of Limited-capacity Resource Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%