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Changes in mean performance on memory, information processing, and intellectual ability tasks over a 3-year period were examined. The sample consisted of 328 community-dwelling men and women (from an original sample of 484 individuals) aged 55-86 years. Ss completed tasks yielding measures of verbal processing time, working memory, implicit memory, vocabulary, verbal fluency, world knowledge, reading comprehension, word recall, and text recall. The results showed significant average decline on working memory, verbal fluency, and world knowledge. There were also interactions for 2 processing time measures and working memory, showing greater decline in the earlier-born cohort group than in the later-born cohort group. A step-down analysis revealed that covarying declines in other variables, including processing time, did not eliminate significant declines in working memory, verbal fluency, and world knowledge.
Hultsch et al. (Wed,) studied this question.