Age and physical fitness as predictors of serial choice responding: the influence of task demands and motor function
✍ Scribed by David Bunce; Kamaljit Birdi
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1998
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 151 KB
- Volume
- 12
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0888-4080
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Findings from research examining the moderating influence of physical fitness on agerelated declines in speeded cognitive tasks have been inconsistent. This may, in part, be due to a failure to take into account the varying demands placed upon individuals by different psychomotor tasks. Additionally, it is rare for studies to consider the motor function in relation to age and physical fitness. These factors were examined in a sample of employed men aged between 22 and 64 years. Multiple regression analyses identified statistically significant Age6Fitness interactions in respect to unusually slow latencies, or blocks, in choice responding at higher levels of task demand. Significant Age6Fitness interactions were also found in predictions of motor performance, although that variable did not account for all of the variance explained in psychomotor measures. It is concluded that Age6Fitness interactions are most likely in situations of high task demands and that limitations in attentional capacity may underlie those interactions.