Results showed that poor performance on nearly all cognitive variables was associated with mortality, but many of these effects were explained by measures of self-rated health and disease. Significant decline in hearing and cognitive performance also predicted mortality as did incomplete data at Wave 1. Results suggest that poor cognitive performance and cognitive decline in very old adults reflect both biological aging and disease processes. American Psychological Association Return to Table of Contents Age-Specific Problems in Rhythmic Timing Ralf Th. Young, middle-aged, and older pilots and nonpilots listened to ATC messages that described a route through an airspace, during which they referred to a chart of this airspace.
Participants read back each message and then answered a probe question about the route.
It was found that pilots read back messages more accurately than nonpilots, and younger participants were more accurate than older participants. Age differences were not reduced for pilots. Pilots and younger participants also answered probes more accurately, suggesting that they were better able to interpret the ATC messages in terms of the chart in order to create a situation model of the flight. The findings suggest that expertise benefits occur for adults of all ages. The possibility of an age-related reduction in the ability to generate and execute 2 similar motor programs was explored by requiring either a manual response to both tasks or a manual response to the 1st and an oral response to the 2nd and was confirmed by the evidence.