Age Differences In Strategy Use Research Articles

Individual and age differences in block-by-block dynamics of category learning strategies.

The present experiment examined individual and age differences in the dynamics of category learning strategies. Participants learned categories determined by a disjunctive rule with relational features through a feedback training procedure. During training, participants responded to strategy probes following each block to provide online assessment of the extent to which rule- and exemplar-based strategies were used throughout the training period. We introduced this measure as an alternative to model-based approaches to assessing individual differences in strategy use during training. Following training, participants classified ambiguous transfer objects that were assumed to distinguish between earlier use of rule- and exemplar-based learning strategies. We included this measure to obtain a relatively objective index of strategy use during training. Next, participants provided global ratings of their use of rule- and exemplar-based strategies during training. Results showed that strategy preferences expressed on the final training block predicted categorisation of ambiguous transfer objects better than global strategy reports. In addition, we utilised the block-by-block strategy reports to investigate the dynamics of learners' strategy preferences over the course of training. The findings revealed greater fluidity in strategy preferences for both younger and older adults than has been previously documented in the category learning literature. The novel block-by-block strategy reports in conjunction with the transfer-based approach allowed for a more nuanced examination of individual and age differences in strategy use and categorisation performance.

Metacognitive monitoring and strategic behaviour in working memory performance

Research indicates that cognitive age differences can be influenced by metacognitive factors. This research has generally focused on simple memory tasks. Age differences in working memory (WM) performance are pronounced, but are typically attributed to basic cognitive deficits rather than metacognitive factors. However, WM performance can be influenced by strategic behaviour that might be driven by metacognitive monitoring. In the current project, we attempted to connect these lines of research by examining age differences in metacognitive WM monitoring and strategies. In Experiment 1, younger and older adult participants completed a computerized operation span task in conditions that either required or did not require monitoring reports. Participants in the monitoring condition predicted and postdicted global performance for each block and rated their responses following each trial within a block. In Experiment 2, participants also reported their trial-level strategic approach. In contrast to the age equivalence typically found for simple memory monitoring, results demonstrated age differences in WM monitoring accuracy. Overall age differences in strategy use were not found, but using effective strategies benefited older adults' performance more than younger adults'. Furthermore, age-related differences in the WM task appear to be mediated by the accuracy of performance monitoring.

Does Task Affordance Moderate Age-related Deficits in Strategy Production?

ABSTRACT According to the task-affordance hypothesis, people will be more likely to use a specific strategy as tasks more readily afford its use. To evaluate this hypothesis, we examined the degree to which older and younger adults used a self-testing strategy to learn items, because previous studies suggest that age-related differences in the use of this powerful strategy vary across tasks. These tasks (words affixed to a board vs. pairs on flashcards) differentially afford the use of the self-testing strategy and may moderate the age-related effects on strategy use. Participants performed a recall-readiness task in which they continued to study items until they were ready for the criterion test. As predicted, self testing was used less often on tasks that least afforded its use. Namely, participants used self testing less when they studied single words affixed to a board than when they studied pairs on flashcards. Most important, age-related deficits in strategy use were greater for the former task and nonexistent for the latter one, suggesting that task affordance moderates age differences in strategy use.

Adults' representations of division facts: a consequence of learning history?

There has been a recent increase in the study of adults' performance on simple division problems. Researchers up to now have focused on the relationship between multiplication and division and have found that multiplication often has a mediating role in the solution of division problems (Campbell, 1997, 1999; LeFevre & Morris, 1999; Mauro, LeFevre, & Morris, 2002). In this study, division was exclusively examined to determine the strategies that are used to solve these problems and to identify factors relating to particular strategy use. Thirty-two participants were asked to solve two sets of 64 simple division problems (from 4 divided by 2 to 81 divided by 9) and error, latency, and strategy report data were collected. Fewer errors were made on easy problems, which were also solved more quickly than difficult problems. Participants used retrieval, multiplication, and other strategies to solve the problems and tended to use retrieval more on easy than difficult problems and used multiplication more on difficult problems than easy problems. Unexpected age differences in strategy use were also found. Older participants tended to rely more heavily on retrieval than younger participants. These results suggest that older participants may have stronger representations for simple division problems than younger participants.

Adult Age Differences in Strategy Use During Verbal Fluency Performance

This study investigated adult age differences in strategy use during verbal fluency performance among 60 older and 60 younger adults. Clustering and switching, strategic components of fluency, were investigated as predictors of performance along with cognitive processes thought to underlie these strategies, namely verbal ability, speed of processing and executive function (strategic planning, performance monitoring, etc.). Two measures of verbal fluency were used: initial and excluded letter (words produced not containing a designated letter). These tasks both require search for words based on a phonemic cue but are thought to reflect a differential reliance on strategic retrieval search processes for successful performance. The number of clusters produced accounted for age differences in excluded, but not initial, letter fluency. Performance on both fluency tasks was associated with the number of clusters and switches participants produced and initial letter fluency was associated with cluster size for older adults and a ratio index of effective search for both age groups. In general, both fluency tasks relied on verbal ability and articulation speed, and excluded letter fluency performance relied more on speed and executive function than did initial etter fluency, especially for older adults.

Production deficiency hypothesis revisited: Adult age differences in strategy use as a function of processing resources

Abstract In a group of 62 young and 75 older subjects, LISREL models were used to predict ordered list recall from age category, self-reported strategy use and selected cognitive abilities. It was found that: (a) age differences in the strategies of associating and repetition/testing were completely explained by speed of mental processing and associative memory; (b) only these two age-related strategies were efficacious strategies, the one not age-related strategy (concentrating) was not; (c) a large proportion of the age-related variance in list recall performance was mediated by speed and associative memory; and (d) this influence of speed and associative memory on ordered list recall was partly mediated by strategies. These results support a moderate version of the production deficiency explanation of memory aging, in which age differences in efficacious strategy use are explained by age differences in basic cognitive abilities.