AGE AND COMPONENTS OF RESPONSE TIME DISTRIBUTIONS

年龄和响应时间分布的组成部分

• 批准号: 6496247
• 负责人: DANIEL H SPIELER
• 金额: $ 12.31万
• 依托单位: GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-04-01 至 2003-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6496247
• 关键词: age difference; aging; attention; behavioral /social science research tag; clinical research; cognition; human subject; memory; neural information processing; performance; psychological models; psychomotor reaction time

Theories of cognitive aging can be divided into two classes. Global theories of cognitive aging posit a small number of global effects of aging on information processing such as a generalized slowing (GS) of information processing. It is proposed that progress in distinguishing between these two classes of theories will be easier with the development and use of general models of information processing that allow one to examine the nature of age differences across a wide variety of tasks. These models allow researchers to detect general influences of aging on information processing and simultaneously provide a framework for interpreting local deviations from global trends. In addition, the application of general computation models helps determine the particular empirical results that will be maximally informative in understanding age differences in information processing. Random walk models are argued to be well suited to explore age differences in a variety of processing domains. These models provide the framework for interpreting age differences in performance and provide a unified framework for modeling age differences in both speed and accuracy measures. Previous applications of random walk models have shown that empirical results that have been viewed as supporting GS theories actually underdetermine the nature of age differences in processing. Based on the application of the random walk model, it is argued that analyses of response time (RT) distributions will be critical in constraining the development of more detailed models of cognitive aging. In this light, the proposed research will sample age differences in a variety of processing domains. A method for modeling the RT distributions in younger and older adults that involves fitting a theoretical function called an ex-Gaussian distribution to the empirical RT distributions will be used to quantify these age differences. Random walk models will be used to model age differences in performance and provide a framework for interpreting age differences in RT distributions. This program of research will provide information about global and local effects of aging, and will provide a more clear specification of the empirical slowing phenomena that is ubiquitous in cognitive aging research. Furthermore, this modeling approach will help to bridge the gap between cognitive aging models, and more traditional models of information processing.

认知衰老理论可分为两类。 认知老化的全球理论假设了少数的全球影响 信息处理的老化，例如广义减慢（GS） 信息处理。建议在区分 随着开发和使用这两类理论将变得更加容易 允许人们检查本质的信息处理的一般模型 各种任务中的年龄差异。这些模型允许 研究人员检测衰老对信息处理的一般影响 同时提供一个框架来解释局部偏差 全球趋势。此外，通用计算模型的应用有助于 确定具有最大信息量的特定经验结果 了解信息处理中的年龄差异。随机游走模型 被认为非常适合探索各种年龄差异 处理域。这些模型提供了解释年龄的框架 表现差异并为建模年龄提供统一的框架 速度和准确度测量上的差异。之前的申请 随机游走模型表明，经验结果被视为 支持 GS 理论实际上不足以确定年龄差异的本质 加工。基于随机游走模型的应用，提出 响应时间 (RT) 分布的分析对于 限制了更详细的认知衰老模型的发展。在 有鉴于此，拟议的研究将对各种年龄差异进行抽样 处理域。一种对年轻和年轻群体的 RT 分布进行建模的方法 老年人，涉及拟合称为前高斯的理论函数 经验 RT 分布的分布将用于量化这些 年龄差异。随机游走模型将用于模拟年龄差异 表现并提供解释 RT 中年龄差异的框架 分布。该研究计划将提供有关全球的信息 和老化的局部影响，并将提供更清晰的规范 认知衰老研究中普遍存在的经验减缓现象。 此外，这种建模方法将有助于弥合之间的差距 认知衰老模型，以及更传统的信息处理模型。