加工速度和工作记忆在认知毕生发展过程中的作用

研究加工速度和工作记忆在认知毕生发展过程中的作用.10-90岁的健康被试1993名,完成加工速度、工作记忆和四项认知能力测验,应用多层次回归分析方法考查加工速度和工作记忆对认知加工的"与年龄相关"和"与年龄无关"的两部分作用,并且,对于"与年龄相关"的部分,比较在认知发展与老化过程中加工速度和工作记忆对各项认知变量的作用量.结果表明:1)在"与年龄相关"的部分,加工速度和工作记忆对认知发展的作用小于对认知老化的作用;2)在认知发展和老化过程,加工速度的作用大于工作记忆的作用;3)加工速度和工作记忆对认知加工的"与年龄无关"的作用部分是不可忽略的.

The Role of Processing Speed and Working Memory in Life Span Cognitive Development

This study, involving a sample of 1993 subjects of 10 to 90 years of age and a battery tests of sensorimotor speed, working memory, thought, spatial representation, recognition of digit and meaningless figure, was conducted to analyze the role of processing speed and working memory in life span cognitive development by using the method of a number of regression analyses. The results indicated: (1) The age-related contributions of processing speed and working memory to cognitive abilities were less in cognitive development than in cognitive aging. (2) The contribution of processing speed to cognitive abilities was more than that of working memory to cognitive abilities in cognitive development and cognitive aging. (3) Processing speed and working memory provided the age-independent contributions to cognitive abilities across the life span. These results led us to conclude that processing speed and working memory play the determinative roles in life span cognitive development, and the age-independent contributions of processing speed and working memory to cognitive abilities are also important.