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It has been suggested, primarily based on response time (RT) data, that there is an age-related increase in intraindividual variability. To determine whether older adults show more intraindividual variability in working memory (WM) performance, we had younger and older adults perform three verbal WM tasks of varying complexity as well as a same-different judgment RT task. For both groups, individual performance tended to be more variable on the two complex span tasks than on the simple span task. Although older adults showed greater variability on the RT task, consistent with previous studies, they did not show greater variability on any of the WM tasks. These findings fail to support theories of frontal lobe aging that predict greater moment-to-moment fluctuations in the performance of older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compares the verbal and visuospatial working memory functions of young and older adults using digit and location memory span task. Analysis on effects of age; Interferences of secondary verbal task on digit span and secondary spatial task on location span; Use of serial scanning by older adults and parallel scanning by younger adults.

Disputes criticisms of Brinley plot analyses. Lack of overlap between latencies on different tasks; Masking of task-specific age differences; Consequence of measurement error in young adults' latencies; Use of standard regression techniques with Brinley plot data; Factors determining degree of underestimation.

Presents a research which attempts to determine the form of the relation between the value and delay of rewards in animals. Examination of the implications of this relation for mechanism underlying risk-sensitive foraging; Implications of a psychological perspective for the behavioral biology of risk-sensitive foraging.

Reports on the results of a test administered on older and young adults on eight lexical tasks that varied extensively in complexity. Association of task performance with error rates; Variations in response times; Use of the task independent Brinley function; Proofs of general cognitive slowing in the nonlexical domain.

We examined whether the type of response used to report items recalled from short-term memory affects the age difference in verbal and spatial memory spans. Younger and older adults viewed either a series of letters or a series of locations in a grid, and then they reported their memory for the items either vocally or by using a touch screen. Overall, age differences were larger for spatial memory spans than for verbal memory spans, replicating previous results. Changing the response modality affected only older adults' verbal spans, which were approximately one item higher with a vocal response than with a manual response. This resulted in a smaller age difference for verbal items reported vocally than for any other condition. The results can best be explained by age-related difficulties in both spatial processing and in dealing with stimulus-response incongruity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews the web sites Cultural Readings: Colonization and Print in the Americas, located at www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/rbm/kislak/index/cultural.html, The Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag That Inspired the National Anthem, located at http://americanhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/, and American Transcendentalism Web, located at www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism.