Universität zu Köln

Koestering, Lena, Stahl, Christoph ORCID: 0000-0002-9033-894X, Leonhart, Rainer ORCID: 0000-0001-5945-1795, Weiller, Cornelius and Kaller, Christoph P. (2014). Development of Planning Abilities in Normal Aging: Differential Effects of Specific Cognitive Demands. Dev. Psychol., 50 (1). S. 293 - 304. WASHINGTON: AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC. ISSN 1939-0599

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Abstract

In line with the frontal hypothesis of aging, the ability to plan ahead undergoes substantial change during normal aging. Although impairments on the Tower of London planning task were reported earlier, associations between age-related declines and specific cognitive demands on planning have not been studied. Here we investigated the impact of search depth and goal ambiguity on planning, which impose demands on the depth and breadth of look-ahead processes, respectively. Besides an overall age-related decline in planning accuracy of 106 healthy older adults, differential search depth effects were found: Whereas planning accuracy of subjects in the early 60s was not affected by variations in search depth, between the ages of 65 and 76 years, accuracy was significantly decreased for high versus low levels of search depth. For subjects older than 76, different search depth levels did not further impact on accuracy, which was lowest overall. This nonlinear pattern may reflect differential impairments in fluid abilities and working memory capacity across various stages of older age. As no age-related effects of goal ambiguity were found, normal aging seems to be specifically sensitive to planning demands on the depth but not the breadth of anticipatory search processes. Hence, cognitive functions subserved by the prefrontal cortex experience differential development over the course of normal aging.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Koestering, Lena UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Stahl, Christoph UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-9033-894X UNSPECIFIED Leonhart, Rainer UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0001-5945-1795 UNSPECIFIED Weiller, Cornelius UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Kaller, Christoph P. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-451122
DOI:	10.1037/a0032467
Journal or Publication Title:	Dev. Psychol.
Volume:	50
Number:	1
Page Range:	S. 293 - 304
Date:	2014
Publisher:	AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC
Place of Publication:	WASHINGTON
ISSN:	1939-0599
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language ADULT AGE-DIFFERENCES; EXECUTIVE FUNCTION; WORKING-MEMORY; RELATIONAL INTEGRATION; FLUID INTELLIGENCE; OLDER-ADULTS; TOTAL SCORE; TOWER; LONDON; TASK Multiple languages Psychology, Developmental Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/45112