认知功能的差异：一生的年龄差异

Dispersion in cognitive functioning: Age differences over the lifespan.

作者信息

Mella Nathalie, Fagot Delphine, de Ribaupierre Anik

机构信息

a Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences , University of Geneva , Geneva , Switzerland.

b Center for Interdisciplinary Gerontology and Vulnerabilities, University of Geneva , Geneva , Switzerland.

出版信息

J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2016;38(1):111-26. doi: 10.1080/13803395.2015.1089979.

DOI:10.1080/13803395.2015.1089979

PMID:26618890

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

A growing body of research suggests that intraindividual variability (IIV) may bring specific information on cognitive functioning, additional to that provided by the mean. The present paper focuses on dispersion, that is IIV across tasks, and its developmental trend across the lifespan.

METHOD

A total of 557 participants (9-89 years) were administered a battery of response time (RT) tasks and of working memory (WM) tasks. Dispersion was analyzed separately for the two types of tasks.

RESULTS

Dispersion across RT tasks showed a U-shaped age differences trend, young adults being less variable than both children and older adults. Dispersion across WM tasks (using accuracy scores) presented an opposite developmental trend. A cluster analysis revealed a group of individuals showing relatively little dispersion and good overall performance (faster in RTs and better in WM), contrasted with a group of individuals showing a large dispersion in the RT tasks as well as poorer overall performance. All young adults were grouped in the first cluster; children and older adults were distributed in both clusters.

CONCLUSION

It is concluded that (a) across-task IIV is relatively large in the entire sample and should not be neglected, (b) children and older adults show a larger dispersion than young adults, but only as far as the RT tasks are concerned,

摘要

引言

越来越多的研究表明，个体内部变异性（IIV）可能会带来有关认知功能的特定信息，这些信息是均值所提供的信息之外的。本文关注的是离散度，即跨任务的个体内部变异性，以及其在整个生命周期中的发展趋势。

方法

共有557名参与者（年龄在9至89岁之间）接受了一系列反应时间（RT）任务和工作记忆（WM）任务。对这两类任务分别进行离散度分析。

结果

RT任务的离散度呈现出U型年龄差异趋势，年轻人的变异性低于儿童和老年人。WM任务的离散度（使用准确率得分）呈现出相反的发展趋势。聚类分析显示，一组个体的离散度相对较小且整体表现良好（反应时间更快，工作记忆更好），与之形成对比的是另一组个体在RT任务中离散度较大且整体表现较差。所有年轻人都被归为第一类；儿童和老年人则分布在两类中。