AGE-RELATED DIFFERENCES IN ADULTS SPATIAL TASK-PERFORMANCE - INFLUENCES OF TASK COMPLEXITY AND PERCEPTUAL SPEED

It was predicted that the magnitude of age differences in performance of a figure comparison task would increase as a function of task compl exity, which was manipulated by varying the angular disparity between figural stimuli to be compared and by varying the number of line segme nts comprising those stimuli. It was further reasoned that if the anti cipated effect was due primarily to age-related decline in perceptual speed, then a measure of perceptual speed would account for the majori ty of age related variance in task performance. Findings supported the age-complexity hypothesis, but included the effect of sex and respons e criteria. Despite the fact that perceptual speed was a significant p redictor of task performance for men, it did not account for a great d eal of age-related variance in women's performance. Other results indi cated that (a) subjects' performance in responding to ''same'' and ''d ifferent'' stimulus pairs varied as a function of angular disparity be tween figures, and (b) sex differences were more pervasive for elderly adults than for young and middle-aged adults.