AGE-RELATED DECLINES IN WORKING-MEMORY SKILLS - EVIDENCE FROM A COMPLEX CALCULATION TASK

Sixteen young, 16 middle-aged, and 16 older adults practiced an algorithm for squaring 2-digit numbers for 6 sessions. Errors were classified as failures of working-memory processes (e.g., substitutions, deletions, omissions) or as calculation errors (e.g., fact-retrieval errors). Practice reduced both working-memory and calculation errors for all age groups and eliminated initial age-related differences in the rates of calculation errors. The older cohort was associated with both a greater frequency and a greater proportion of working-memory errors relative to the young group. In contrast with calculation, however, age-related differences in working-memory efficiency appeared to be reduced only modestly by practice.