Ludwig T E
J Gerontol. 1982 Mar;37(2):182-9. doi: 10.1093/geronj/37.2.182.
In a series of three experiments, a mental synthesis task was administered to groups of college students and older adults. Simple symmetrical or asymmetrical straightline patterns were divided into two parts; the two parts were presented either sequentially or simultaneously. Participants were instructed to mentally combine the two parts and either reproduce or recognize the complete pattern. The college students made more correct responses than older adults on both the reproduction and recognition measures. Both groups performed better when urged to visualize the complete pattern than when instructed to memorize the individual component parts. Overall, the results suggest that age differences in synthesis performance are related to, but perhaps not limited to, differences in memory ability.
在一系列的三个实验中，对几组大学生和老年人进行了心理合成任务。简单的对称或不对称直线图案被分成两部分；这两部分要么依次呈现，要么同时呈现。参与者被要求在脑海中组合这两部分，然后再现或识别完整的图案。在再现和识别测试中，大学生的正确反应比老年人更多。当被敦促想象完整图案时，两组的表现都比被要求记忆各个组成部分时更好。总体而言，结果表明合成表现的年龄差异与记忆能力的差异有关，但可能不限于记忆能力的差异。
