Table 1.
Mean (SD) Demographic and Neuropsychological Characteristics of Participants Separated by Age Group
| Older adults | Younger adults | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First order | Second order | First order | Second order | |
| Age* | 70.2 (4.9) | 71.6 (6.1) | 19.0 (1.0)* | 20.0 (.90) |
| Education | 16.7 (2.3) | 16.9 (2.2) | 13.4 (1.2) | 14.1 (1.1) |
| BDS | 7.2 (1.9) | 7.5 (2.9) | 7.7 (2.6) | 8.4 (2.6) |
| DSST* | 59.9 (14.7) | 68.3 (17.6) | 96.6 (21.1) | 89.4 (7.7) |
| NAARTa | 14.4 (7.4) | 12.8 (6.3) | 15.6 (8.0) | 14.3 (6.8) |
| MMSE | 28.2 (1.7) | 28.4 (1.3) | — | — |
Notes. BDS = Backwards Digit Span; DSST = Digit Symbol Substitution Test; MMSE = Mini Mental State Examination. Means that are statistically different between age groups are denoted with an asterisk. Means that are statistically different between structural conditions within an age group are denoted by an asterisk in the first-order column.
aThe North American Adult Reading Test (NAART) is scored such that higher scores reflect poorer performance. For all other neuropsychological tests, higher scores indicate better performance.