Bailey Heather, Dunlosky John, Hertzog Christopher
Department of Psychology, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242-0001, USA.
Psychol Aging. 2009 Mar;24(1):82-92. doi: 10.1037/a0014078.
The strategy-deficit hypothesis states that age differences in the use of effective strategies contribute to age-related deficits in working memory span performance. To evaluate this hypothesis, strategy use was measured with set-by-set strategy reports during the Reading Span task (Experiments 1 and 2) and the Operation Span task (Experiment 2). Individual differences in the reported use of effective strategies accounted for substantial variance in span performance. In contrast to the strategy-deficit hypothesis, however, young and older adults reported using the same proportion of normatively effective strategies on both span tasks. Measures of processing speed accounted for a substantial proportion of the age-related variance in span performance. Thus, although use of normatively effective strategies accounts for individual differences in span performance, age differences in effective strategy use cannot explain the age-related variance in that performance.
策略缺陷假说认为，在有效策略的运用方面存在的年龄差异，会导致与年龄相关的工作记忆广度表现缺陷。为了评估这一假说，在阅读广度任务（实验1和实验2）以及运算广度任务（实验2）中，通过逐组策略报告来测量策略的运用情况。所报告的有效策略运用方面的个体差异，在广度表现中占了很大的方差。然而，与策略缺陷假说相反，年轻人和老年人在两项广度任务中报告使用的规范有效策略的比例相同。加工速度的测量在与年龄相关的广度表现方差中占了很大比例。因此，虽然规范有效策略的使用可以解释广度表现中的个体差异，但有效策略使用方面的年龄差异并不能解释该表现中与年龄相关的方差。
