Aging Cognition Unconfounded by Prior Test Experience

Aging Cognition Unconfounded by Prior Test Experience.

OBJECTIVE Investigate time-related age differences in cognitive functioning without influences of prior test experience. METHODS Cognitive scores were compared in different individuals from the same birth years who were tested in different years, when they were at different ages. These types of quasi-longitudinal comparisons were carried out on data from three large projects: the Seattle Long...

Prior experience supports new learning of relations in aging.

This work examined whether semantically relevant schemas could facilitate learning in the transverse patterning (TP) task, which requires participants to learn the value of each stimulus in relation to the stimulus with which it is paired (e.g., A wins over B, B wins over C, C wins over A). Younger and older adults received the standard TP in isolation (alone condition), with additional session...

Movement speed is biased by prior experience

How does the motor system choose the speed for any given movement? Many current models assume a process that finds the optimal balance between the costs of moving fast and the rewards of achieving the goal. Here, we show that such models also need to take into account a prior representation of preferred movement speed, which can be changed by prolonged practice. In a time-constrained reaching t...

Blinded by Experience: Prior Experience, Negative News and Belief Updating

Embodied cognition of aging

Embodiment is revolutionizing the way we consider cognition by incorporating the influence of our body and of the current context within cognitive processing. A growing number of studies which support this view of cognition in young adults stands in stark contrast with the lack of evidence in favor of this view in the field of normal aging and neurocognitive disorders. Nonetheless, the validati...