Age-related differences in mental work capacity: effects of task complexity and stressors on performance

Abstract

The present study focuses on the question of whether there is a decline in the capacity of the information-processing system with advancing age. Attention is first paid to general theoretical issues like the distinction between fluid and crystallized abilities, the reduction of processing capacity, and the effect of task complexity and stressful conditions on task performance in elderly subjects. Then, results of a series of experiments are reported that were carried out to determine to what extent the agerelated decline in performance in more demanding cognitive tasks is also affected by stressors such as noise, sleep loss and caffeine. The results clearly demonstrated that, with respect to speed measures, the complexity effect, that is the greater slowing of old subjects in more complex than in simple RT tasks, is a robust phenomenon. It was further concluded that the combined effects of task complexity and stress conditions yielded a complex pattern of performance measures, which could not be explained simply on the basis of a simple resource-depletion model of aging.

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