Sources of age-related individual differences in block design tests

Abstract

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the possibility that adult age differences on block design tasks originate at least in part because of a reduced efficiency with increased age in the cognitive processes associated with block manipulation. Young and older performed a computer-implemented block design task constructed in such a way that design segmentation and motor dexterity factors were minimized. The older adults, compared to the young adults, were substantially slower and less efficient (in terms of a lower frequency of selecting the optimum sequence of block manipulations to match the target pattern). It was concluded that important sources of age-related individual differences on block design tasks are the speed of carrying out relevant processes, and one's knowledge about the relationship of the patterns on the block's faces to one another.