Lindenberger U, Mayr U, Kliegl R
Ulman Lindenberger, Academy of Sciences and Technology, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany.
Psychol Aging. 1993 Jun;8(2):207-20. doi: 10.1037//0882-7974.8.2.207.
Past research suggests that age differences in measures of cognitive speed contribute to differences in intellectual functioning between young and old adults. To investigate whether speed also predicts age-related differences in intellectual performance beyond age 70 years, tests indicating 5 intellectual abilities--speed, reasoning, memory, knowledge, and fluency--were administered to a close-to-representative, age-stratified sample of old and very old adults. Age trends of all 5 abilities were well described by a negative linear function. The speed-mediated effect of age fully explained the relationship between age and both the common and the specific variance of the other 4 abilities. Results offer strong support for the speed hypothesis of old age cognitive decline but need to be qualified by further research on the reasons underlying age differences in measures of speed.
以往的研究表明，认知速度测量方面的年龄差异导致了年轻人和老年人在智力功能上的差异。为了调查速度是否也能预测70岁以上人群在智力表现上与年龄相关的差异，对一个接近代表性的、按年龄分层的老年和高龄成年人样本进行了5种智力能力测试——速度、推理、记忆、知识和流畅性。所有5种能力的年龄趋势都可以用负线性函数很好地描述。年龄的速度介导效应充分解释了年龄与其他4种能力的共同方差和特定方差之间的关系。研究结果为老年认知衰退的速度假说提供了有力支持，但需要通过进一步研究速度测量中年龄差异背后的原因来加以限定。
