Table 1.
Demographic characteristics, cognitive function, and memory control beliefs
| Young (n = 17) | Old (n = 16) | |
| Demographic characteristics | ||
| Female/male | 9/8 | 8/8 |
| Age**** | 22.8 (4.0) | 71.9 (4.1) |
| Education (years) | 15.2 (1.9) | 14.8 (2.7) |
| Cognitive function | ||
| WAIS-III vocabulary* | 54.2 (7.0) | 48.9 (8.2) |
| WAIS-III similarities*** | 28.2 (2.0) | 24.5 (4.2) |
| FAS | 43.2 (10.4) | 38.3 (11.8) |
| Animal naming*** | 24.7 (5.7) | 19.3 (2.0) |
| Listening spana,**** | 0.84 (0.08) | 0.61 (0.14)c |
| Rotation spana,**** | 0.68 (0.13)d | 0.39 (0.18) |
| WCST categories completed** | 5.8 (0.7) | 4.1 (2.5) |
| Simon effectb,*** | 62.5 (39.9) | 142.3 (90.6)c |
| WAIS-III digit symbol**** | 96.4 (14.3) | 66.4 (11.4) |
| Memory control beliefs | ||
| Present ability | 5.5 (1.2) | 5.5 (0.9) |
| Potential improvement | 5.5 (1.0) | 5.1 (0.8) |
| Effort utility | 5.4 (1.1) | 5.2 (1.4) |
| Inevitable decrement | 3.5 (1.3) | 3.3 (1.3) |
Note: Means and SDs (in parentheses) for young and older adults' demographic characteristics, scores on assessments of cognitive function, and memory control belief ratings. Independent sample t-tests were used to examine group differences. WAIS-III, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Third Edition; WCST, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test.
a
Partial credit unit scoring (Conway et al. 2005).
b
Incongruent–congruent trial reaction times.
c
n = 15.
d
n = 16.
*P < 0.1, **P < 0.05, ***P < 0.01, ****P < 0.001.