Ratcliff Roger, Thapar Anjali, McKoon Gail
Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus 43210, USA.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2006 Aug;13(4):626-35. doi: 10.3758/bf03193973.
The effects of aging on performance were examined in signal detection, letter discrimination, brightness discrimination, and recognition memory, with each subject tested on all four tasks. Ratcliff's (1978) diffusion model was fit to the data for each subject for each task, and it provided a good account of accuracy and the distributions of correct and error response times. The model's analysis of the components of processing showed that aging had three main effects: The nondecision components of processing were slower and the decision criteria were more conservative for 60- to 74-year-old and 75- to 85-year-old subjects than for college students, but the quality of the evidence on which decisions were based was as good for the older subjects as for college students on some of the tasks. Individual differences among subjects in components of processing tended to be preserved across the tasks, as was shown by strong correlations across the tasks in the parameters of the model that represent the components of processing. For example, if the evidence on which a subject's decisions were based was good in one task, it tended to be good in all four tasks.
在信号检测、字母辨别、亮度辨别和识别记忆方面，研究了衰老对表现的影响，每个受试者都接受了所有四项任务的测试。将拉特克利夫（1978年）的扩散模型应用于每个受试者每项任务的数据，该模型很好地解释了准确性以及正确和错误反应时间的分布情况。该模型对加工成分的分析表明，衰老有三个主要影响：对于60至74岁以及75至85岁的受试者，与大学生相比，加工的非决策成分较慢，决策标准更为保守，但在某些任务中，老年受试者做出决策所依据的证据质量与大学生相当。加工成分在受试者之间的个体差异在各项任务中往往得以保留，这一点通过代表加工成分的模型参数在各项任务之间的强相关性得以体现。例如，如果一个受试者在一项任务中做出决策所依据的证据质量良好，那么在所有四项任务中往往也是如此。
