Brown, L.A., Brockmole, J.R., Gow, A.J. and Deary, I.J., 2012. Processing speed and visuo-spatial executive function predict visual working memory ability in older adults. Experimental Aging Research, 38, pp. 1-19.
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Abstract
Background/Study Context: Visual working memory (VWM) has been shown to be particularly age-sensitive. Determining which measures share variance with this cognitive ability in older adults may help to elucidate the key factors underlying the effects of aging. Methods: Predictors of VWM (measured by a modified Visual Patterns Test) were investigated in a sub-sample (N = 44, mean age = 73) of older adults from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (LBC1936; Deary et al., 2007). Childhood intelligence (Moray House Test) and contemporaneous measures of processing speed (four-choice reaction time), executive function (verbal fluency; block design), and spatial working memory (backward spatial span), were assessed as potential predictors. Results: All contemporaneous measures except verbal fluency were significantly associated with VWM, and processing speed had the largest effect size (r = -.53, p < .001). In linear regression analysis, even after adjusting for childhood intelligence, processing speed and the executive measure associated with visuo-spatial organization accounted for 35% of the variance in VWM. Conclusion: Processing speed may affect VWM performance in older adults via speed of encoding and/or rate of rehearsal, while executive resources specifically associated with visuo-spatial material are also important.
Item Type: | Journal article | ||||
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Description: | This is an Author's Original Manuscript of an article whose final and definitive form, the Version of Record, has been published in Experimental Aging Research 2012 © Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/0361073X.2012.636722. | ||||
Publication Title: | Experimental Aging Research | ||||
Creators: | Brown, L.A., Brockmole, J.R., Gow, A.J. and Deary, I.J. | ||||
Date: | 2012 | ||||
Volume: | 38 | ||||
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Divisions: | Schools > School of Social Sciences | ||||
Record created by: | EPrints Services | ||||
Date Added: | 09 Oct 2015 11:05 | ||||
Last Modified: | 23 Aug 2016 09:13 | ||||
URI: | https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/22702 |
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