Association between aerobic fitness and visuospatial performance in healthy older adults.

This study examined whether chronic physical exercise activity is associated with better neurocognitive performance in older adults. One hundred five men participated in 1 of 3 age groups (18-28, 35-45, and 60-73). For each age group, subjects were classified as high or low in fitness on the basis of self-reported activity levels and the results of a submaximal bicycle ergometer test. A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to each subject, and older subjects scored significantly lower than the younger groups on most tests. Significant differences between high- and low-fit subjects were found only on tasks with heavy visuospatial demands, and these differences were most notable in the older adult group. These findings suggest that participation in aerobic exercise activity selectively preserves some cognitive functions that normally decline with age. The benefits of activity appear to be most evident on tasks that require visuospatial processing.     

Adult age differences in the rate of learning serial patterns: evidence from direct and indirect tests.

Subjects performed a serial reaction time task (adopted from Nissen & Bullemer, 1987) that contained a repeating pattern of spatial locations. In Experiment 1, following 20 repetitions of a 10- or 16-element pattern, reaction time was equally disrupted for both younger and older people when the sequence became random. In Experiment 2, the response times for subjects encountering the 10-element pattern were compared with those of subjects encountering a random sequence. These response time functions diverged at the same point in training for the 2 age groups. Thus, on this indirect measure of response time facilitation, both experiments revealed age similarity in the rate of pattern learning. In contrast, on a subsequent direct test of pattern learning that required prediction, the younger people earned a higher percentage correct score than the older in both experiments. Age-related dissociations between direct and indirect measures of learning and comparisons with memory-impaired populations are discussed.     

Adult age differences in short-term memory and subsequent long-term memory for actions.

Short-term memory for actions was investigated for young adult and elderly adult subjects with the Brown-Peterson procedure at retention intervals of 0 and 15 s. The short-term memory trials were followed by the long-term recall of the prior to-be-remembered actions. The 15-s retention interval was filled either with no activity or with 1 of 3 different interfering activities. Verbal interference had little effect on short-term memory at either age level. Actions performed in the interval either by the subjects or by the experimenter produced significantly lower recall scores at each age level, with the decrement being more pronounced for the elderly than for the young subjects. The long-term memory results indicated that successful short-term recall enhanced later long-term recall, regardless of age level.     

Dimensions of affective experience in three age groups.

The dimensions by which adults of differing ages experience emotion were studied by self-administering questionnaires administered to older adults (n = 828) recruited from Elderhostel programs, middle-aged (ages 30-59) children of Elderhostel attenders (n = 231), and young adult (ages 18-29) subjects recruited from college classes or through Elderhostel participants (n = 207). Elders were higher in emotional control, mood stability, and emotional maturity through moderation and leveling of positive affect and lower in surgency, psychophysiological responsiveness, and sensation seeking. These findings are consistent with the hypothesized increase in self-regulatory capacity with age. These cross-sectional differences cannot, however, be distinguished from cohort-related explanations; they require considerable replication across different types of subjects and further characterization of the dimensions in terms of their functions for self-regulation.     

Wisdom-related knowledge in a life review task: age differences and the role of professional specialization.

The study adopts life review as an avenue to access wisdom-related knowledge and examines the contribution of age and type of professional specialization to individual differences in wisdom-related knowledge. Women from 2 age groups/cohorts (young, M = 32 years; old, M = 71 years) and different professional specializations (human services vs. nonhuman services) were asked to think aloud about the life review of a fictitious woman who was either young or old. Verbal protocols were scored on 5 wisdom-related criteria: factual and procedural knowledge about life, life-span contextualism, relativism of values, recognition, and management of uncertainty. Three major findings emerged. First, human-services professionals outperformed the control group. Second, old adults performed as well as young adults. Third, for older adults wisdom-related performance was enhanced by the match between their own age and the age of the fictitious character.     

The relationship between attitude,assertiveness and condom use

The Australian study investigated condom-specific assertiveness and condom use as a means of prevention infection from sexually transmitted diseases. 211 men participated including 83 homosexual men (aged 19-62 years) and 128 heterosexual men (aged 17-49) who completed a questionnaire that comprised demographic details such as age, monogamy, and sexual activity as well as attitudinal and assertiveness measures. General assertiveness was measured by the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule (RAS) which had been widely used across a wide range of social situations. Assertiveness relating specifically to situations involving condoms was measured by the Condom Assertiveness Scale (CAS). Intention to use condoms was positively related to favorable attitudes, which were related to condom-specific assertiveness for both groups. For the heterosexual men only, general social assertiveness was negatively related to attitudes toward condoms. For both groups, the condom-specific measure of assertiveness was positively correlated with attitudes toward condoms. Condom-specific assertiveness was positively related to general social assertiveness as measured by the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule for the homosexual, but not for the heterosexual men. The negative relationship between general assertiveness and attitude to condoms among the heterosexual men implies that the risk reducing behavior of condom use did not seem to accord with the perceptions of masculinity and social assertiveness among heterosexual men. Thus, female partners of such heterosexual men exhibiting negative attitudes toward condom use combined with assertiveness would have to overcome resistance to insist on the use of condoms. Recently some advertising campaigns have been directed at women. The promotion of condom use among heterosexual men has to deal with the perceptions of condom use as unmasculine behavior.     

Thinking About Gender

I present a way of thinking about gender that I have found helpful in evaluating various proposed feminist projects. By considering gender and value as independent dimensions, relationships of “difference” can be more clearly perceived as involving relationships of lack, of complementarity, or of perversion. I illustrate the use of my gender/value “compass” with applications to questions of self-identity, rationality, and knowledge. This way of thinking about gender allows a conceptualization of feminism that neither erases nor emphasizes gender distinctions.     

An evaluation of a brief integrity test user orientation program

The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the effectiveness of a brief test user orientation program on increasing service station managers' familiarity with a few key employment testing issues, including their familiarity with theModel Guidelines for Preemployment Integrity Testing Programs. The obtained results reveal that even a brief orientation program was able to significantly increase the managers' stated degree of familiarity with testing issues.