Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T20:05:26.008Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of age on forward and backward span tasks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2004

ROBERT L. HESTER ,
GLYNDA J. KINSELLA  and
BEN ONG
ROBERT L. HESTER
Affiliation:
School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia Department of Psychology and Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
GLYNDA J. KINSELLA
Affiliation:
School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia
BEN ONG
Affiliation:
School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The central executive component of working memory has been argued to play an important role in the performance of span tasks, particularly backward span. Age-related decline in central executive function has also been reported, and yet there have been inconsistent findings to indicate that with increasing age, the discrepancy between forward and backward span increases. A secondary analysis of the Wechsler Memory Scale–Third Edition standardization sample (N = 1030) was performed to investigate this relationship. It was hypothesized on the basis of past research indicating an age-related decline in central executive performance, that backward digit and spatial span performance would decrease at a greater rate than forward span performance. However, the results indicated that the rate of age-related performance decline was equivalent for both measures. It is proposed that both forward and backward span tasks recruit central executive resources for successful task performance. (JINS, 2004, 10, 475–481.)

Keywords

Working memorySpatial spanDigit spanWMS–3Aging
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , July 2004 , pp. 475 - 481
Copyright
2004 The International Neuropsychological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Babcock, R.L. & Salthouse, T.A. (1990). Effects of increased processing demands on age differences in working memory. Psychology and Aging, 5, 421–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baddeley, A. (1986). Working memory. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press/Oxford University Press.
Baddeley, A. (1996). Exploring the central executive. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Experimental Psychology, 49A, 5–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baddeley, A. (2000). The episodic buffer: A new component of working memory? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4, 417–423.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. (2001, November). Is working memory still working? American Psychologist, 851–864.Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. (2002). Fractionating the Central Executive. In D. T. Stuss & R. T. Knight (Eds.), Principles of frontal lobe function, (pp. 246–260). New York: Oxford University Press.
Baddeley, A., Baddeley, H.A., Bucks, R.S., & Wilcock, G.K. (2001). Attentional control in Alzheimer's disease. Brain, 124, 1492–1508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baddeley, A. & Hitch, G.J. (1974). Working memory. In G. Bower (Ed.), Recent advances in learning and motivation (pp. 47–90). London: Academic Press.
Baddeley, A., Logie, R., Bressi, S., & Sala, S.D. (1986). Dementia and working memory. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Experimental Psychology, 38, 603–618.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baeckman, L., Small, B.J., Wahlin, A., & Larsson, M. (2000). Cognitive functioning in very old age. In F.I.M. Craik (Ed.), Handbook of aging and cognition (2nd ed., pp. 499–558). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Belleville, S., Rouleau, N., & Caza, N. (1998). Effect of normal aging on the manipulation of information in working memory. Memory and Cognition, 26, 572–583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Botwinick, J. & Storandt, M. (1974). Memory, related functions and age. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
Brennan, M., Welsh, M.C., & Fisher, C.B. (1997). Aging and executive function skills: An examination of a community-dwelling older adult population. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 84, 1187–1197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cabeza, R. & Nyberg, L. (2000). Imaging cognition II: An empirical review of 275 PET and fMRI studies. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 12, 1–47.Google Scholar
Cohen, J.D., Perlstein, W.M., Braver, T.S., & Nystrom, L.E. (1997). Temporal dynamics of brain activation during a working memory task. Nature, 386, 604–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtiss, G., Vanderploeg, R.D., Spencer, J., & Salazar, A.M. (2001). Patterns of verbal learning and memory in traumatic brain injury. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 7, 574–585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daigneault, S. & Braun, C.M. (1993). Working memory and the Self-Ordered Pointing Task: Further evidence of early prefrontal decline in normal aging. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 15, 881–895.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Della Sala, S. & Logie, R.H. (2001). Theoretical and practical implications of dual-task performance in Alzheimer's disease. Brain, 124, 1479–1481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobbs, B.M., Dobbs, A.R., & Kiss, I. (2001). Working memory deficits associated with chronic fatigue syndrome. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 7, 285–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisk, J.E. & Warr, P. (1996). Age and working memory: The role of perceptual speed, the central executive, and the phonological loop. Psychology and Aging, 11, 316–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greene, J.D.W., Hodges, J.R., & Baddeley, A.D. (1995). Autobiographical memory and executive function in early dementia of Alzheimer type. Neuropsychologia, 33, 1647–1670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregoire, J. & Van der Linden, M. (1997). Effects of age on forward and backward digit spans. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 4, 140–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Groeger, J.A., Field, D., & Hammond, S.M. (1999). Measuring memory span. International Journal of Psychology, 34, 359–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keys, B.A. & White, D.A. (2000). Exploring the relationship between age, executive abilities, and psychomotor speed. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 6, 76–82.Google Scholar
Klingberg, T., O' Sullivan, B.T., & Roland, P.E. (1997). Bilateral activation of fronto-parietal networks by incrementing demand in a working memory task. Cerebral Cortex, 7, 465–471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lezak, M.D. (1995). Neuropsychological assessment (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
McDowd, J.M. & Shaw, R.J. (2000). Attention and aging: A functional perspective. In F.I.M. Craik & T.A. Salthouse (Eds.), Handbook of aging and cognition (2nd ed., pp. 291–292). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Miyake, A., Friedman, N.P., Rettinger, D.A., Shah, P., & Hegarty, M. (2001). How are visuospatial working memory, executive functioning, and spatial abilities related? A latent-variable analysis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130, 621–640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, D., Logie, R., & Gilhooly, K.J. (1999). Verbal representations and spatial manipulation during mental synthesis. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 11, 295–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robbins, T.W., James, M., Owen, A.M., Sahakian, B.J., Lawrence, A.D., McInnes, L., & Rabbitt, P.M.A. (1998). A study of performance on tests from the CANTAB battery sensitive to frontal lobe dysfunction in a large sample of normal volunteers: Implications for theories of executive functioning and cognitive aging. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 4, 474–490.Google Scholar
Rypma, B., Prabhakaran, V., Desmond, J.E., Glover, G.H., & Gabrieli, J.D.E. (1999). Load-dependent roles of frontal brain regions in the maintenance of working memory. Neuroimage, 9, 216–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salthouse, T.A. (1994). The aging of working memory. Neuropsychology, 8, 535–543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salthouse, T.A. (1996a). General and specific speed mediation of adult age differences in memory. Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 51B, 30–P42.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A. (1996b). Where in an ordered sequence of variables do independent age-related effects occur? Journals of Gerontology: Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 51B, 166–P178.Google Scholar
Salthouse, T.A. (2000). Aging and measures of processing speed. Biological Psychology, 54, 35–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salthouse, T.A., Fristoe, N.M., Lineweaver, T.T., & Coon, V.E. (1995). Aging of attention: Does the ability to divide decline? Memory and Cognition, 23, 59–71.Google Scholar
Schretlen, D., Pearlson, G.D., Anthony, J.C., Aylward, E.H., Augustine, A.M., Davis, A., & Barta, P. (2000). Elucidating the contributions of processing speed, executive ability, and frontal lobe volume to normal age-related differences in fluid intelligence. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 6, 52–61.Google Scholar
Van der Linden, M., Beerten, A., & Pesenti, M. (1998). Age-related differences in random generation. Brain and Cognition, 38, 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van der Linden, M., Bredart, S., & Beerten, A. (1994). Age-related differences in updating working memory. British Journal of Psychology, 85, 145–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vecchi, T. & Cornoldi, C. (1999). Passive storage and active manipulation in visuo-spatial working memory: Further evidence from the study of age differences. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 11, 391–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verhaeghen, P. & De Meersman, L. (1998). Aging and the Stroop effect: A meta-analysis. Psychology and Aging, 13, 120–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1997). Technical manual for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence and Memory Scale–Third Edition. New York: The Psychological Corporation.