How localized are age-related effects on neuropsychological measures?

The primary goal of the current study was to examine the degree of independence of the age-related influences on measures sometimes postulated to be sensitive to functioning in different regions of the brain. It is often assumed that levels of performance on different cognitive measures and the age-related effects on those measures are determined by separate and distinct mechanisms. In the case of measures from neuropsychological tests, the discovery of selective impairments by individuals with damage in particular regions of the brain has led to the inference that various brain structures are specialized for different types of processing. When combined with results indicating age-related deficits on those measures, these findings have led to speculation that certain regions of the brain are more sensitive to age-related decline than others. For example, at different times it has been suggested that the