Biomedical subjects

John Cerella

Publications and source records attributed to John Cerella.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Aging and dual-task performance: a meta-analysis.

The relations between dual-task effects and aging were examined through a meta-analysis of 33 studies (with 48 independent participant groups) using latency as the dependent measure and 30 studies (with 40 independent participant groups) focusing on accuracy. Brinley plots and state traces were derived, and a model to explicate different types of complexity (additive and multiplicative) was developed. The effects of dual-task processing on latency were additive, and this additive cost was larger in older adults than in younger adults and larger than predicted from general slowing. This cost was small and independent of task complexity. The effects of dual-task processing on logit-transformed accuracy were likewise additive, but no specific age deficit was associated with this dual-task cost.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Item learning in cognitive skill training: effects of item difficulty.

Item difficulty effects in skill learning were examined by giving participants extensive training with repeated alphabet arithmetic problems that varied in addend size (e.g., C-D = ? is easy; C-J = ? is harder). Recognition memory for the items, as measured by interpolated recognition tests, was acquired early in training and was unaffected by item difficulty. Memory for the solutions to items, as measured by the participants' strategy reports that they had retrieved, rather than computed, the solution, was acquired later and was affected by item difficulty. Solutions to easier items were learned earlier in training for both young adults (18-24 years) and older adults (60-75 years), superimposed on an overall lower level of solution learning in older participants. The results suggest that the formation of associations between problems and their solutions is effortful and shares limited processing resources with the computational demands of the problem.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Aging, executive control, and attention: a review of meta-analyses.

We review the results of a series of meta-analyses by the first author and colleagues, examining age-related differences in selective attention (Stroop-task survey and negative-priming task survey) and in divided attention (dual-task survey and task-switching survey). The four task families all lent themselves to state trace analysis, in which performance in baseline conditions was contrasted with performance in experimental conditions separately for college-aged subjects and for elderly subjects. These analyses found no age-related deficits specific to selective attention or local task-switching. Age deficits were found for dual-task performance and global task-switching. Unlike selective attention and local task-switching costs, dual-task and global task-switching costs were found to be additive in both young and old subjects, unmodulated by task difficulty. These forms of executive intervention then did not alter computational processes already present in the simple tasks, but rather added one or more additional processing steps or stages to the processing stream. The cost was greater in older adults, but was limited to those experimental conditions that activated multiple task sets.

Aging↗

PubMed2002

Cognitive efficiency modes in old age: performance on sequential and coordinative verbal and visuospatial tasks.

In an experiment using a large set of verbal and spatial tasks requiring low or high degrees of executive control, 3 distinct age-related effects were found. The smallest effect (no slowing) was tied to lexical tasks with low executive involvement, the largest deficit (age-related slowing factor of 2.2) was tied to visuospatial tasks with high executive involvement, an intermediate level of deficit (slowing factor of 1.7) was found for visuospatial tasks with low executive load and verbal tasks with high executive load. These age-related dissociations were incompatible with any "common cause" formulation. The mechanism responsible for the dissociation between verbal and visual tasks, and between low and high executive load remains to be determined. The latter may reflect capacity limits.

Adult↗