Age differences in mental synthesis.

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.