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Adult age differences and the role of cognitive resources in perceptual-motor skill acquisition: Application of a multilevel negative exponential model

  • Paolo Ghisletta
  • , Kristen M. Kennedy
  • , Karen M. Rodrigue
  • , Ulman Lindenberger
  • , Naftali Raz
  • University of Geneva
  • Distance Learning University
  • University of Texas at Dallas
  • Max Planck Institute for Human Development

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

The effects of advanced age and cognitive resources on the course of skill acquisition are unclear, and discrepancies among studies may reflect limitations of data analytic approaches. We applied a multilevel negative exponential model to skill acquisition data from 80 trials (four 20-trial blocks) of a pursuit rotor task administered to healthy adults (19-80 years old). The analyses conducted at the single-trial level indicated that the negative exponential function described performance well. Learning parameters correlated with measures of task-relevant cognitive resources on all blocks except the last and with age on all blocks after the second. Thus, age differences in motor skill acquisition may evolve in 2 phases: In the first, age differences are collinear with individual differences in task-relevant cognitive resources; in the second, age differences orthogonal to these resources emerge.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)163-173
Number of pages11
JournalJournals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
Volume65 B
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2010

Keywords

  • Aging
  • Motor performance
  • Multilevel model
  • Negative exponential learning function
  • Pursuit rotor
  • Skill acquisition
  • Working memory

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