The present study tested the hypothesis of a decreasing ontogenetic trend in the rate of learning a discrimination as a function of age. A three-phase optional shift design was employed. One hundred and twenty male and female subjects from three age groups, 50-59, 60-69, and 70 years and older, were tested. The results indicated that, with advancing age, more trials were required to meet the learning criterion in the initial and shift discrimination phases. Female subjects learned the initial discrimination significantly faster than did male subjects. Although subjects aged 70 years and older were less likely than those in the younger age groups to choose a reversal shift in the test phase, they chose the reversal and extradimensional shifts at comparable rates. The finding of a reversed ontogenetic trend as a function of age is discussed in terms of both the mediation and attention theories.

/pdf/age-and-sex-differences-in-discrimination-learning-3it0he13iu.pdf

Age and sex differences in discrimination learning

A two-phase discrimination shift design was used in which 192 Jordanian subjects in the age groups 50-59, 60-69, and 70 years and older were shifted following criterion learning of a discrimination task to either a reversal (R) shift or an extradimensional (ED) shift. Like older children and young adults, subjects in the 50-59 age group executed an R shift faster than an ED shift. Subjects who were 70 years or older, however, found the ED shift easier than the R shift, just as is traditionally found with preschool children. The reversed ontogenetic trend was explained in terms of Kendler and Kendler's two-stage mediational theory.

Khamis A. Qassim

Papers

The Effect of Aging on Reversal and Extradimensional Shifts in Jordan