Testing individual differences in ancient China.

Presents a brief historical review of the use of individual testing in ancient China, and notes that although formal testing for individual differences in mental ability goes back "only" 2,000 yrs in history rather than 4,000 yrs, that is still a remarkable lineage for the historical efforts to measure individual differences in human abilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental aging and organicity in an alcoholic population.

Investigated whether changes in mental abilities associated with alcohol abuse are in the direction of mental aging or in the direction of organic brain syndrome. 158 25-64 yr old alcoholic inpatients were divided into 4 CA groups corresponding to WAIS age norms, and WAIS score profiles were computed for each group. Results indicate that Ss differed significantly from normative values derived from the WAIS manual both in accelerated mental aging and in evidence of organicity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ruminations on aging changes in mental abilities and their heritability: Comment on Finkel, Pedersen, Plomin, and McClearn (1998).

The Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging is a semilongitudinal study of the aging of mental abilities in monozygotic and dizygotic twins. In the article by D. Finkel, N. L. Pedersen, R. Plomin, and G. E. McClearn (1998), data from 602 individuals were used to investigate developmental changes on 14 measures of mental ability as well as changes in the heritability of these abilities. This commentary details a number of problems with the design and analysis of data reported by Finkel et al., problems that leave the results difficult to interpret, and then provides suggestions for more fruitful approaches for analyzing data from such studies in the future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cohort differences in cognitive aging and terminal decline in the Seattle Longitudinal Study.

Life span researchers have long been interested in how and why fundamental aspects of human ontogeny differ between cohorts of people who have lived through different historical epochs. When examined at the same age, later born cohorts are often cognitively and physically fitter than earlier born cohorts. Less is known, however, about cohort differences in the rate of cognitive aging and if, at the very end of life, pervasive mortality-related processes overshadow and minimize cohort differences. We used data on 5 primary mental abilities from the Seattle Longitudinal Study (Schaie, 2005) to compare both age-related and mortality-related changes between earlier born cohorts (1886–1913) and later born cohorts (1914–1948). Our models covary for several individual and cohort differences in central indicators of life expectancy, education, health, and gender. Age-related growth models corroborate and extend earlier findings by documenting level differences at age 70 of up to 0.50 SD and less steep rates of cognitive aging on all abilities between 50 and 80 years of age favoring the later born cohort. In contrast, mortality-related models provide limited support for positive cohort differences. The later born cohort showed steeper mortality-related declines. We discuss possible reasons why often reported positive secular trends in age-related processes may not generalize to the vulnerable segment of the population that is close to death and suggest routes for further inquiry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thoughts on the psychobiology of aging.

Reviews the literature on aging and examines biological changes and mental functioning, genetic factors in aging, psychological changes with aging, individual differences in the mental functioning of the aged, and intellectual decline and mortality in the aged. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing versus understanding human intelligence.

Intelligence may be studied in 2 distinct ways, using a psychometric or a biological approach. The psychometric approach is focused on the assessment of a person's level of mental ability and documents individual differences between people in mental abilities. Biological studies seek those brain functions that cause individual differences in human mental abilities. The lack of overlap between these approaches means that it is unclear what the scores of intelligence tests mean in terms of fundamental biological processes of the brain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The inheritance of mental ability.

Arguments "from introspection, from biology, and from neurology" concerning the problem of individual differences in mental ability are cited. The specific independent abilities theory of Thorndike, the single general factor theory of Spearman, and the 2 factors of general and specific abilities are discussed. "In controversies about the facts of mental heredity most critics have tended to assume that the two causal agencies commonly discussed—heredity and environment—are not merely antithetical but mutually exclusive… . In point of fact, with a few rare exceptions, like eye color or serological differences in the blood, every observable characteristic that geneticists have studied has proved to be the product of the joint action of both heredity and environment. There are, in short, no such things as hereditary characters; there are only hereditary tendencies." It is to be regreted that so little progress has been made by psychologists in applying modern genetic methods to fundamental study in the nature-nurture area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation of social class and educational aptitude.

The radical critique that denies that lower class or minority group children are deficient in any mental abilities is considered. It is suggested that current findings point to mental ability test differences as being "real". However, it is argued that consideration of social class and ethnic differences should be shifted from intelligence to scholastic aptitude. Four plans for educational change that would deal with the problem of the low scholastic aptitude of poor children are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Not your parents' test scores: Cohort reduces psychometric aging effects.

Increases over birth cohorts in psychometric abilities may impact effects of aging. Data from 2 cohorts of the Long Beach Longitudinal Study, matched on age but tested 16 years apart, were modeled over ages 55-87 to test the hypothesis that the more fluid abilities of reasoning, list and text recall, and space would show larger cohort differences than vocabulary. This hypothesis was confirmed. At age 74, average performance estimates for people from the more recently born cohort were equivalent to those of people from the older cohort when they were up to 15 years younger. This finding suggests that older adults may perform like much younger ones from the previous generation on fluid measures, indicating higher levels of abilities than expected. This result could have major implications for the expected productivity of an aging workforce as well as for the quality of life of future generations. However, cohort improvements did not mitigate age declines. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Negro-white differences in intelligence test performance: A new look at an old problem.

Negro-white differences on mental tests are evaluated in this paper, which was prepared at the suggestion of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (Division 9 of the American Psychological Association). "The evidence against the assumption of native differences in intelligence test performance between Negroes and whites still seems to me to be very convincing." There is "no scientifically acceptable evidence for the view that ethnic groups differ in innate abilities. This is not the same as saying that there are no ethnic differences in such abilities… . The science of psychology can offer no support to those who see in the accident of inherited skin color or other physical characteristics any excuse for denying to individuals the right to full participation in American democracy." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual speed in adulthood: Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies.

Cross-sectional data on age differences in perceptual speed are presented from the Seattle Longitudinal Study for the age range 22–91 years (N?=?1,620, first assessed in 1977; N?=?628, first assessed in 1984). In addition, 838 subjects were followed over the 7-year interval. Markers of perceptual speed were the Identical Pictures and Finding A's tests from the Educational Testing Service's Kit of Factor-Referenced Cognitive Tests. Significant age differences, age changes, and cohort differences were found at both observed variable and latent construct levels. Cross-lagged correlations examine the role of perceptual speed in predicting later performance on other abilities (Verbal Meaning, Inductive Reasoning, Spatial Orientation, Number, and Word Fluency). When perceptual speed is partialled out of scores for these abilities, aging effects are reduced markedly for all abilities, but least for Spatial Orientation and Inductive Reasoning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Basic behavioral science research for mental health: Thought and communication.

The key to human intelligent behavior lies in the capacity for thinking, reasoning, and problem solving and an inability to communicate through language. These abilities are often seriously impaired in people with mental disorders, and their language may reveal delusions and scattered, incoherent thoughts as well as "word" salad and idiosyncratic words. Depressed and anxious individuals often reveal self defeating thoughts and inappropriate reasoning, such as regarding minor slip-ups as catastrophes and dwellling on the negative aspects of experiences that are generally positive. Cognitive research seeks to understand how thinking, reasoning, and using language develop and function nomally, how they are represented in the brain, and how they can break down in aging, brain injury, and various mental disorders. Aspects of this research inform the work of therapists as they challenge irrational beliefs and dysfunctional reasoning, encourage clients to re-evaluate their problems, and aid people in overcoming the aftereffects of brain injury and disease. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primary aging, secondary aging, and intelligence.

The distinction between primary aging, representing innate maturational processes, and secondary aging, representing the effects of environment and disease (E. W. Busse, 1969), was used to develop a model for the assessment of factors that are associated with age-related individual differences in intelligence. Intelligence was measured by performance on a number of tests that measure cognitive abilities known to decline with age. In a hierarchical multiple regression analysis, primary aging and education but not health explained a significant portion of the variance in fluid intelligence. Chronological age had a residual effect over and above that of primary and secondary aging, indicating that there was remaining age-associated variance unaccounted for in the proposed model. The results suggest that the model of primary and secondary aging is a valid means of operationalizing chronological age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Meta-analyses comparing theory of mind abilities of individuals with autism, individuals with mental retardation, and normally developing individuals

A deficit in theory of mind (ToM) abilities has been described as the core deficit in autism. The authors performed 3 meta-analyses, comparing ToM abilities of individuals with autism, individuals with mental retardation (MR), and normally developing individuals. Results indicated that individuals with autism and MR have impaired ToM abilities. The etiology associated with MR (i.e., Down syndrome, undifferentiated etiology) was found to be an important moderator variable. Chronological age (CA) and verbal mental age (VMA) of the normally developing children and CA, VMA, and performance mental age of individuals with MR, and type of matching between the groups were also found to be moderator variables. Discussion focuses on the implication of the findings and emphasizes the need to consider the specific etiology of comparison groups when studying abilities and impairments of individuals with autism and MR.     

Testing and cognitive psychology.

Evaluates 4 major approaches to understanding mental abilities: cognitive correlates, which relate test performance to tasks believed to tap basic information-processing abilities; cognitive components, which construct cognitive process models of tasks from standard psychometric tests; cognitive training, which trains individuals in a particular skill and examines subsequent performance; and cognitive contents, which examine the differences in knowledge structures between experts and novices. The major implication of these approaches is that they can relate test performances to specific mental processes. Some newer trends in cognitive research that are potentially fruitful for testing are also discussed. The author concludes that the eventual supplementing of psychometric tests with theory-guided cognitive tasks will be a viable endeavor. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

APA bridging the gap on aging-related issues.

Past and present efforts of the American Psychological Association related to aging issues are described. Initiatives to integrate aging information into the psychology curriculum at all levels of education and training and to advocate for federal policies and funding that recognize the role of geropsychology and expand training opportunities for practitioners and researchers are discussed. These include the Committee on Aging's Preparing Psychology for an Aging World Initiative; the Education Policy Office and the Office on Aging's Graduate Training in Geropsychology Initiative; and the program offerings of the Office of Continuing Professional Education. The critical need to educate policymakers regarding the role of geropsychologists and psychological researchers in identifying and addressing the mental and behavioral health needs of older adults and their families is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the specificity of face cognition compared with general cognitive functioning across adult age.

Face cognition is considered a specific human ability, clearly differentiable from general cognitive functioning. Its specificity is primarily supported by cognitive-experimental and neuroimaging research, but recently also from an individual differences perspective. However, no comprehensive behavioral data are available, which would allow estimating lifespan changes of the covariance structure of face-cognition abilities and general cognitive functioning as well as age-differences in face cognition after accounting for interindividual variability in general cognition. The present study aimed to fill this gap. In an age-heterogeneous (18–82 years) sample of 448 adults, we found no factorial dedifferentiation between face cognition and general cognition. Age-related differences in face memory were still salient after taking into account changes in general cognitive functioning. Face cognition thus remains a specific human ability compared with general cognition, even until old age. We discuss implications for models of cognitive aging and suggest that it is necessary to include more explicitly special social abilities in those models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and mental health: Business as usual?

Cautions that in developing training models in mental health and aging, psychologists must not overlook what experience has taught them about mental health intervention or what they know already about older adults. It is suggested that a life-span developmental view complements a community and preventive approach to the mental health needs of the elderly. Creation of a separate subspecialty of clinical geropsychology will not effectively serve older adults. What is needed is a synthesis of already existing expertise in areas such as life-span development, clinical psychology, and community psychology. This synthesis provides a conceptual foundation and set of intervention approaches on which to base training programs in mental health and aging. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Temporal constraints in processing of nonverbal rhythmic patterns

This study investigates the effect of a mental content of presented stimuli, normal aging and individual differences in cognitive abilities on temporal limits of an integration mechanism. Younger and older subject grouped together the beats generated by a metronome. Subjects were asked to listen to the beats of a metronome and to accentuate mentally every second, third, fourth...etc. beat, to create a subjective rhythm. This rhythm exists, in fact, only in subjects' mind and not objectively. Subjects reported verbally how many clicks they were able to integrate into a perceptual unit. On this basis, the time interval during which subjects were able to integrate temporally separated stimuli was calculated (number of beats reported as being integrated x time distance between beats) for different metronome frequencies. The results show, firstly, that the length of integration periods significantly depends on the frequency of presented metronome beats. When the frequency of metronome beats is high, the time interval during which the subjects integrate beats into a single perceptual unit is shorter. Secondly, older adults integrate information during a longer time interval than younger ones. Thirdly, the length of an integration period is related to a subjects' level of cognitive ability. These results suggest that the length of an integration period is not a constant, stable feature, but varies across the life span depending on the mental content of the information presented and individual factors.     

Depression and mental control: The resurgence of unwanted negative thoughts.

In three experiments we examined depressed individuals' mental control abilities and strategies. Experiment 1 revealed that although depressed college students were initially successful in suppressing negative material, they eventually experienced a resurgence of unwanted negative thoughts. Analysis of subjects' stream-of-consciousness reported indicated that this resurgence was associated with the use of negative thoughts as distracters from the unwanted item. In Experiment 2 depressed subjects acknowledged that positive distracters were more effective than negative ones in suppressing negative thoughts. This acknowledgment suggests that depressed subjects in Experiment 1 did not deliberately focus on negative distracters but that depressed subjects' use of positive distracters could be increased somewhat when we provided such distracters and made them easily accessible. Taken together, the findings suggest that depression involves an enhanced accessibility of interconnected negative thoughts that can undermine mental control efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)