Dissociation between performance on abstract tests of executive function and problem solving in real-life-type situations in normal aging

This study examined the effects of normal aging on real-life-type problem-solving performance, using problems that had previously been found to be sensitive to lesions involving the frontal lobes. Executive skills assessed on abstract neuropsychological tests tend to decrease with normal aging. The effects of aging on tasks reliant on everyday knowledge and experience are less well understood. In the present study, groups of healthy older and younger people were compared on ability to solve real-life-type problems covering a range of everyday interpersonal situations. Performance was also examined on a range of standardized neuropsychological tests involving executive skills. Older people were similar to younger people in most aspects of everyday problem-solving performance, although the older group appeared to use a different strategy to the younger group in generating potential problem solutions. Both groups performed normally for their age on the executive tests. Comparisons based on raw scores rather than age-adjusted scores showed the younger group to perform better on the executive tests, but not on the problem-solving task. The possible contribution of knowledge and experience to problem solving on the current task is discussed. The greater life experience of the older group is likely to be the biggest contributory factor in maintaining problem-solving performance.