AN EXAMINATION OF THE ADULT AGE-RELATED DIFFERENCES ON THE RAVENS ADVANCED PROGRESSIVE MATRICES - A STRUCTURAL EQUATIONS APPROACH

The purpose of this project was to extend previous research (Babcock, 1994) which examined the influence of three hypothesized components, p rocessing speed, and working memory on the individual- and age-related differences on the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) test. The results of that study suggested that although all three components are important to performance on the APM, rule-application tasks seeme d to hold the most promise in accounting for age-related variance on t he APM. The current project investigated two issues: (a) whether measu res used to represent constructs important to APM performance were inv ariant for young and old, and (b) whether the influence of the hypothe sized components on performance on the APM is similar for young and ol d adults. Participants included 134 young and 134 older adults. Result s suggested that the measures represent similar constructs for both ag e groups. In addition, the structural model of performance on the APM was similar for young and old. Results are discussed in terms of previ ous research which found rule application to be promising in accountin g for age differences on the APM.