Thornton Wendy Loken, Deria Sirad, Gelb Shannon, Shapiro R Jean, Hill Amanda
Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
Psychol Aging. 2007 Sep;22(3):470-81. doi: 10.1037/0882-7974.22.3.470.
Reductions in everyday problem solving (EPS) are often reported in older age, although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The authors examined the role of 2 variables predicted to mediate (neuropsychological abilities and health status) or moderate (health status) the relationship between age and EPS performance. Toward these ends, they compared EPS and neuropsychological performance in 50 functionally independent adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and 64 control participants matched on age and education. Both older age and CKD were associated with worse performance on measures of EPS and memory/executive abilities. Neuropsychological abilities were positively associated with EPS performance. In both the full sample and control participants only, memory/executive functioning mediated the association between presence of chronic illness and EPS. Furthermore, memory/executive functioning partially mediated the link between age and EPS. Findings indicate that relations among age, health status, and EPS are not straightforward. Although performance on neuropsychological measures appeared to underlie EPS declines in chronic illness, increasing age remained independently associated with reduced EPS. The authors discuss implications for models of adult developmental changes in everyday cognition.
虽然日常问题解决能力（EPS）下降在老年人中常有报道，但其潜在机制仍不清楚。作者研究了两个变量的作用，这两个变量被预测可调节（神经心理能力和健康状况）或缓和（健康状况）年龄与EPS表现之间的关系。为此，他们比较了50名患有慢性肾脏病（CKD）的功能独立成年人与64名年龄和教育程度匹配的对照参与者的EPS和神经心理表现。年龄较大和患有CKD均与EPS及记忆/执行能力测量指标的较差表现相关。神经心理能力与EPS表现呈正相关。仅在全样本和对照参与者中，记忆/执行功能调节了慢性病存在与EPS之间的关联。此外，记忆/执行功能部分调节了年龄与EPS之间的联系。研究结果表明，年龄、健康状况和EPS之间的关系并不简单。虽然神经心理测量指标的表现似乎是慢性病中EPS下降的基础，但年龄增长仍然与EPS降低独立相关。作者讨论了这些发现对成人日常认知发展变化模型的意义。
