ADULT AGE-DIFFERENCES IN PERFORMANCE ON THE MATCHING FAMILIAR FIGURES TEST

It has often been proposed that elderly individuals respond more slowly than younger adults in order to insure accuracy. In order to investigate this hypothesis the Matching Familiar Figures test was administered to 10 males and 10 females from each of the following age groups: 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69 and 70-79 years old. A 5 (age) X 2 (sex) analysis of variance was performed on the two dependent measures average latency to first response and total number of errors. The analysis of variance indicated that age was a significant source of variance in the analyses of both latency and error scores. Regression analyses were performed on both the latency and error scores with age, sex, education, occupation, and retirement as predictor variables. Age was the only significant predictor of latency and errors; older individuals had longer response latencies and made more errors than younger individuals. Thus, the results do not support the notion that elderly individuals respond more slowly in order to maintain accuracy. © 1979 S. Karger AG, Basel.