Hertzog C, Schaie K W
School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta 30332-0170.
Psychol Aging. 1988 Jun;3(2):122-30. doi: 10.1037//0882-7974.3.2.122.
We analyzed data on psychometric intelligence from the Seattle Longitudinal Study, simultaneously estimating longitudinal factors, their covariance structure, and their mean levels. Data on five Thurstone Primary Mental Abilities subtests were available for 412 adults, ages 22-70 at first test, who were tested three times at 7-year intervals. A previous longitudinal factor analysis had shown high stability of individual differences (covariance stability) in general intelligence for three adult age groups. We extended that model to estimate factor means. All three age groups showed high levels of covariance stability, but differed sharply in their mean profiles. The young group showed increasing levels of general intelligence, the middle-aged group had stable levels of intelligence, and the old group showed salient, approximately linear, decline. The patterns of stability in middle-age, followed by mean decline and high covariance stability in old age, suggest a normative developmental transition from a stability pattern to a decline pattern of general intelligence, with the inflection point occurring somewhere around age 60.
我们分析了来自西雅图纵向研究的心理测量智力数据，同时估计纵向因素、它们的协方差结构以及它们的平均水平。有412名成年人的五项瑟斯顿基本心理能力子测试数据，他们首次测试时年龄在22至70岁之间，每隔7年接受三次测试。先前的纵向因素分析表明，三个成年年龄组在一般智力方面的个体差异（协方差稳定性）具有高度稳定性。我们扩展了该模型以估计因素均值。所有三个年龄组都表现出高度的协方差稳定性，但在平均概况上有很大差异。年轻组的一般智力水平不断提高，中年组的智力水平稳定，而老年组则出现显著的、近似线性的下降。中年期的稳定模式，随后是老年期的平均下降和高协方差稳定性，表明一般智力从稳定模式向下降模式的规范发展转变，转折点大约出现在60岁左右。
