Effects of Age and Control Beliefs on Resource Allocation During Reading Abstract

Past work suggests that a strong sense of control over one's cognitive ability is associated with higher levels of cognitive performance and that control beliefs may be even more important in later life, due to age-related declines in cognitive processes. However, less is known about the effects of control beliefs on encoding strategies, and whether these effects are comparable for younger and older adults. Participants were divided into high- (HC) and low- control (LC) beliefs groups based on their scores on the Personality in Intellectual-Aging Contexts Inventory. Participants then read relatively easy and difficult passages word-by-word on a computer for subsequent recall. The data suggest that among older, but not younger adults, control beliefs are particularly important when reading difficult passages. Findings as they relate to models of self-regulation and to implications for everyday functioning are discussed.