Developmenlal Psychology
1990. Vol. 26. No. 5. 845-854
Copyright1990by the AmericanPsychological
Association,
Inc.
0012- l 649190/$00.75
Effectsof Age and Naturally Occurring Experience
on SpatialVisualizationPerformance
Timothy A. Salthouseand DeboraR. D. Mitchell
Georgia Institute of Technology
A questionnaire
designedto assess
experience
with activitiespresumedto requirespatialvisualization abilities,and psychometrictestsof theseabilities,wereadministeredto 383 adultsranging
from 20 to 83 yearsofage. Although researchparticipantsvariedconsiderably
in the amountof
self-reported
experience,
statisticalcontrolofexperienceresultedin relativelymodestattenuations
ofthe relationsbetweenageand spatialvisualizationperformance.
Thesefindingsseeminconsistentwith a strongdisuseinterpretationofcognitiveagingphenomena
andsuggest
thatat leastsome
age-related
differencesin cognitivefunctioningare independentofthe amountofexperiencewith
relevantactivities.
One o[the most popular hypothesesproposed to account for
the age-relateddeclines observedwith certain measuresofcognitive functioning attributes those declines to various forms of
disuse or lack of practice. Although seldom articulated as an
explicit theory, the following sample of quotations illustrates
that this perspectivehas been implicitly acceptedfor more than
half a century.
Abilitytasksthatarecommonly
usedin everyday
lifetendto be
insensitive
to age.(Birren,Cunningham,
& Yamamoto,
1983,
p.552)
morestrongly
to theecological
niches
thatthe
IW]hentasksrelate
olderpersoninhabits,
age-related
deficits
arelessprominent.
(Charness,
1985,p. 226)
A decrease
in testability amongadultsis probablycausedby the
fact that adults,as they grow older,exercisetheir minds lessand
lesswith the materialsfound in psychologicaltests.(Sorenson,
1 9 3 3p, . 7 3 6 )
The"losses"
arein largemeasure.. . a by-productofdisuse.
. .
old age actsselectivelyand most decidedlyon those functions
which have sufferedfor want of practice. (Sward, 1945, pp.
478-4'79)
[ ] n one'sown fieldwhereexperiencehasbeenaccumulatingover
a periodof manyyears,thereis little evidencefor anydeclinewith
the years,at leastuntil extremeold ageis reached.(Gilbert, 1952,
p.130)
Thosewho havespenttheir livesworking with their handsand
interpretingperceptualdata retain the ability to deal with perceptual and constructionalproblems.(Williams, 1960, pp.
217-218)
oftheorganismwithinhisownenviron[S]tudiesofthe functions
mentshowrelativelysmall age-related
differences
or changesand
in manycasesadvancingageis correlatedwith improvement.
(Fozard& Thomas,1975.p. I l7)
[T]he declinesthat are observedin abilitieswhich are usedfrequentlyappearto beginat a laterageandto belessdrasticthanare
(Denthe declinesin abilitieswhichareexercisedlessfrequently.
n e y , 1 9 8 2p ,. 8 2 4 )
This researchwassupportedby NationalInstituteon Aging Grant
AG006858to Timothy A. Salthouse.
We would like to thank ReinholdKliegl for valuablecommentson
an earlierdraft of this articleand E. Breitmeister,
A. Fann,H. Yanous.
and M. Yanousfor assistance
in data analysis.
Correspondence
concerningthis articleshouldbe addressedto
Timothy A. Salthouse,
SchoolofPsychology,
GeorgiaInstituteofTechnology,Atlanta,Georgia30332.
845
An importantcategoryofresearchrelevantto the disusehypothesishasinvolvedcomparisonsacrosspeoplepresumedto
differ in the natureand extentof their experiences.
Research
within this categoryhas varied with respectto whetherthe
focuson the individual'sexperience
and cognitiveperformance
has been broad or narrow. Studies with a broad focus have
attemptedto relatecharacterizations
of the individual'sgeneral
activity level(e.g.,Arbuckle,Gold, & Andres,1986;DeCarlo,
1974;Schooler,1984)or his or her self-assessed
cognitivedemands(e.g.,Owens,1953;Schwartzman,
Gold, Andres,Arbuckle,& Chaikelson,I 987)eitherto a varietyof miscellaneous
cognitivemeasuresor to a compositescoreof generalintelligence.Most of thesestudieshavereportedratherweak relationsbetweenexperience
and cognitivefunctioning.For example, the semipartialcorrelationbetweena measureof the frequencyof 23 activitiesand a compositemeasureof intelligence
in the Schwartzman
et al. (1987)studywasonly . 13.
Althoughnot without value,studieswith a broadfocussuffer
from two problemsassociated
with the grossness
of the categorization of both the experienceand the cognitionconstructs.
One problem is that it is dilficult to rule out the influenceof
potentiallyconfoundingthird variables(suchas healthstatus)
whenthe evaluations
neitherofexperiencenor ofcognitionare
very specific.A secondproblem is that the relationsbetween
experience
andcognitionarelikely to be quiteweakwhenthose
constructsareassessed
in verygeneralterms.That is,thegreatesteffectsofexperiencewill probablybe evidentbetweenspecific measuresof cognition and particular frequently performedactivities,ratherthan betweenglobalmeasures
of cognition or generalintelligenceand grosscategorizations
of
experience.
One meansof achievingcloserlinkagesbetweenexperience
and cognition is to rely on samplescomprisingmembersof
846
TIMOTHY A. SALTHOUSE AND DEBORA R. D. MITCHELL
particular occupationalgroups and to investigateage-related
effectson occupationallyrelevantmeasuresofcognitive performance.Perhapstheearliest,and almostcertainlythe largest,of
the occupation-specific
studiesrelevantto aginginvolveda battery of perceptualand cognitivetestsadministeredto 544 atrcrewofficers(Glanzer& Glaser,1959;Glanzer,Glaser,& Richlin, 1958).The statedpurposesof this projectwereto "measure
the skills requiredfor performanceof aircrewofficers[andto]
measure the effects of aging upon skilled performance"
(Glanzer& Glaser,1959,p. 89). Unfortunately,
the assessment
ofage-relatedeffectswas not very powerful becauseofa relativelynarrowrangeof ages,with only 14,or lessthan 37o,of the
researchparticipantsoverthe ageof40. Despitethis restricted
age range, significant negativecorrelations between age and
performancewerereportedon 8 of the l4 tests.Furthermore,
the largestageeffectswereevidenton a test with the highest
facevalidity as a measureof pilot skill. This wasa test titled
InstrumentComprehension,
in whichthe examineeis required
to integrateinformationfrom a compassand an artificialhorizon to indicatethe currentpositionofan airplane.Not only was
thesimpleagecorrelationwith this measurestatisticallysignificant (r : -.33), but it wasonly slightlyattenuated(to r = -.24)
after statisticallycontrollingthe presumablyrelevantvariable
of total numberof hoursof flyingexperience.
A similar finding of significantage-related
cognitivedifferencesfavoringyoungeradultswithin a sampleof adultsfor
whom the relevantabilitiescan be assumedto havebeen in
continuoususewas recentlyreportedby Salthouse,Babcock,
Skovronek,Mitchell, and Palmon(1990).Most of the participantsin this projectwerearchitects,
of cogniand the measures
tiveperformance
consisted
ofscoreson testsofspatialvisualization. The 47 architectsin Study3 ofthat reportrangedfrom 2 l
to 7l yearsof age,with a correlationof .97 betweenageand
numberof yearsof usingspatialvisualizationabilitiesin one's
job. Although it seemsreasonable
to assumethat all of these
practicingarchitectshad extensive,
and nearlycontinuous,use
of spatialvisualizationabilities,highly significantage-related
of -.69, -.71, and -.47) were
declines(i.e.,agecorrelations
observedin three measuresofspatial visualizationperformance.
projectsjust deThe resultsof the two occupation-specific
providing
in
rather
discouragscribedare thereforeconsistent
of cognitiveaging.Obing evidencelor the disuseperspective
jectionscan be raisedagainsteachof thesestudies,howeveq
and it is thus desirableto replicatethe major resultsbefore
reachinga definitiveconclusionregardingthe disuseinterprethe strategyof examiningagetrendsin
tation. Unfortunately,
samplescomprisingmembersof a particularprofessionor occupation is hamperedby the difficulty of recruitingappropriateresearchparticipants.To illustrate,in our recentstudyof
architects,more than 1,100lettersweremailed to nearlyall of
the membersof the American Instituteof Architectsprofessionalorganizationresidingin a largemetropolitanarea,and
approximately400 of theseindividualswerelatertelephonedto
makeadditionalappealsfor participation.Ultimately,however,
recruitedto particionly about60 individualsweresuccessfully
patein the two relevantstudies.Furthermore,it wasimpossible
to determine whether the architectswho participated in the
project were representativeof the larger population of architects.
A different researchstrategywasusedin our presentproject
by recruiting participantsfrom the generalpopulation and
then administering a questionnaireto evaluatethe extent of
eachindividual'sexperiencewith different activitiespresumed
to requirespatialvisualizationability. Three types of informain thequestionnaire
to assess
recentexperition wererequested
ence,cumulativeexperience,and subjectiveability.The two categoriesofexperienceweredistinguishedto allow investigation
ofage relationswith both the currentfrequencyand the accumulatedfrequencyof activitiespresumedto be relevantto spatial visualization.Informationaboutboth kinds of experience
is desirablebecause,althoughproponentsof the disuseperspectivegenerallyargue that increasedage is associatedwith
with relevantactivities,the
lesseramountsof recentexperience
cumulativeexperience
of an individualmayactuallybe greater
with increasedage.Ratingsof subjectiveability wereincluded
becausepeoplewho spendconsiderable
time performinga
given activity might be assumedto havehigher perceptionsof
their levelof ability in that activity than peoplewho devote
relativelylittle time to the activity.In this respectthe subjective
ability ratingsmayproveusefulin evaluatingthe validityof the
experienceinformation.
questionnaire,
In addition to the experience
six cognitive
testswerealso administeredto all researchparticipants:two
spatialvisualizationability,two designedto
designedto assess
assess
the closelyrelatedcognitiveability of inductivereasonthe presumably
ing,andtwo designedto assess
unrelatedcognitive ability of perceptualspeed.The purposeof the testsof
inductivereasoningand perceptualspeedwasto providea further checkon the validityof the informationobtainedfrom the
to the experiexperiencequestionnaire.That is, if responses
encequestionnaireare accurateindicationsof the amount of
experience
eachindividualhashadwith explicitlyspatialactivities,then a gradationin the magnitudeof the correlationsbeand the measures
of cognitweenthe questionnaireresponses
tive performancewould be expected,with the highestcorrelalowercorrelations
tions for the spatialvisualizationmeasures,
and the lowestcorrelafor the inductivereasoningmeasures,
tions for the perceptualspeedmeasures.
The primary questionsinvestigatedin the project were
whetherexperiencewith activitiesrequiringspatialvisualization ability either mediatesor moderatesage-relateddifferencesin measuresof spatialvisualizationperformance.The
mediationpositionwould be supportedif there is little or no
effectassociatedwith ageafter statisticallycontrolling the influenceof variablesreflectingamount of relevantexperience.A
somewhatweaker hypothesisis that differentialexperience
doesnot mediatethe effectsrelatedto agebut insteadmoderatesthoseeffectssuchthat the age-relatedinfluencesare smallestamongindividualswith the greatestamountof experience.
thereThe specificpredictionfrom the moderationperspective,
fore, is that the ageand experiencevariableswill haveinteractive effectson measuresof spatial visualizationperformance.
Method
Subjects
A total of383 adultsbetween20 and 83 yearsofage contributed
valid datato the project.The data from 5 additionalindividualswere
AGING AND SPATIAL EXPERIENCE
consideredinvalidand werediscardedprior to analyses
becausethese
participantshad difficulty understandingthe test materialsor be_
causethey arrived at the testingsessionin an obviouslyinebriated
state.All participantswererecruitedfrom newspaper
advertisements
and weretestedin smallgroups.Participantsconsistedofl g6 menand
197women,wilh 20-47 individualsin eachdecade-sex
groupingfrom
the 20sto 70+. Eachindividualwaspaid $10for his or her parricipa_
tion in the 90-minsession
Procedure
The testingsessionbeganwith the researchparticipantscompleting
a questionnaireintendedto assess
the amountof recentand cumula_
trveexperiencethe individualhad with activitiespresumedto require
spatialvisualizationabilitiesandto obtaina self-appraisalofhis or her
levelofability in eachactivity.For eachofl0 activities(listedin Table
2), the individualwasaskedto (a)rate his or her ability on a 5-point
scalerangingfrom | (muchaboveaverage)to 5 (muchbelowaverage),(b)
estimatethe average
numberofhours per monthdevotedto that activity overthe last6 months,and(c)estimatethe numberof yearsin which
an average
ofat leastI 5 hr per month had beendevotedto that activity.
The remainderofthe testsessionwasdevotedto the performance
of
six cognitivetests.The tests,in theorderin whichtheywerepresented,
werethe NumberComparisonTest,the paperFoldingTest,the Letter
SetsTest,the AbstractionTest,theSurlaceDevelopment
Test,and the
Finding As Test.All but the AbstractionTest were from the Kit oi
.|c.rl.r
Factor-Re/brenced
Cognitive
(Ekstrom, French,Harman. & Dermen, 1976).The AbstractionTest was from the ShipleyInstituteof
LivingScale(Shipley,
1986).
The PaperFoldingand SurfaceDevelopmenttestswereintendedto
assess
spatialvisualizationability.The taskin the paperFoldingTestis
to determinewhich patternof holeswould resultif a pieceol'paper
werefoldedin the mannerillustratedand a holepunchedin the specified location.The individualis allowed3 min to completeas manyof
the l0 five-alternative
multiple-choiceitemsas possible.ltems in the
SurfaceDevelopmentTest consistof an unfoldedand an assembled
drawingof a three-dimensional
object,for which the examineeis required to determinethe correspondence
betweenedgesin the two
drawings.Individualsareallowed6 min to completeasmanyof the 30
itemsaspossible.
The LetterSetsand Abstractiontestsweredesignedto assess
inductive reasoningability.The task in the LetterSetsTest is to determine
whichof fivesetsof lettersis differentin somewayfrom the remaining
setsof letters.The examineeis allowed7 min to performthe l5 problemsin the test.The AbstractionTest is a seriescompletrontestcontaining sequences
of numbers,letters,or words that are to be completed by supplyingthe item that most naturally continuesthe sequence.The individualis permitted5 min to solvethe 20 itemson the
test.
The Number Comparisonand Finding As testsweredesignedto
perceptualspeed.The task in the NumberComparisonTestis
assess
to decideas rapidlyas possiblewhethertwo numbersare the sameor
different.A time limit of 90 s is providedlor examinees
to completeas
manyof the 48 itemsaspossible.The task in the FindingAs Testis to
locateall of the wordscontainingthe letter"a" in fivecolumnsof 4l
wordseach.Theexamineeis allowed2 min to detectasmanvofthe 100
targetsas possible.
Results
Cognitive PerfbrmanceMeasures
Formostof theanalyses,
performance
in eachtestwassummarizedby thenumberof itemsanswered
correctly
rninusthe
numberof itemsanswered
incorrectly.
Thisscoringmethodhas
847
the dual advantage
ofproviding a correctionfor guessing
while
also increasingthe range of possiblescores.The correlation
matrix illustratingthe relationsamongthesecognitiveperfbrmancemeasures
and the variablesofage, sex,education,and
self-reported
healthstatusis displayedin lbble l.
Becausethe cognitivetestswereselecteda priori to represent
threedistinctabilities,and becausethe largestcorrelationwith
each meastrrewas generallywith the other measurehypothesizedto representthe sameability (Tablel), compositeability
scoreswerecreatedby averagingthe z scoresfrom the two relevant measures.
That is, a spatialvisualizationcompositewas
createdby averagingthe individual's z scoresfrom the paper
Foldingand SurfaceDevelopmenttests,an inductivereasoning
compositewas createdby averagingz scoresfrom the Letter
Setsand Abstractiontests,and a perceptualspeedcomposite
wascreatedby averagingz scoresfrom the Number Comparisonand FindingAs tests.Correlationsof thesecompositemeasureswith chronological
agewere-.37 for spatialvisualization,
-.27 for inductivereasoning,
and -.28 for perceptualspeed(all
significantat p <.0 l). Althoughconceptually
distinct,thecompositemeasures
werenot independent,becausethe intercorrelations were .69 betweenspatial visualizationand inductive
reasoning,.33 betweenspatialvisualizationand perceptual
speed,and .5 I betweeninductivereasoningand perceptual
speed.
Questionnaire Responses
Meansand standarddeviationsof the responses
to the individualquestionnaireitemsarepresented
in Table2. Responses
weremissingon oneor moreitemsin 40 of the questionnaires;
hence,all subsequent
analyses
are basedon datafrom the 343
individualswith completerecords.In all cases,highernumbers
reflectgreaterquantitids,with the valuesin the recentexperiencecolumn representinghours per month over the last 6
monthsand thosein the cumulativeexperiencecolumn representingyears,with an average
of at leastl5 hr per month.Most
of the distributionsof recentexperienceresponses
werepositivelyskewed.To illustrate,all of the medians(50thpercentile
values)were3 or less,whereasthe valuesat the 95thpercentile
for ItemsI throughl0 were37.5,30,30,20, 20,20,40,5,10,and
4 hr per month,respectively.
For all exceptthe lastthreeactivities,therefore,a considerable
amountofrecentexperiencewas
reportedby at leastsomeofthe researchparticipants.
To reducethe numberofquestionnairevariablesfor subsequentanalyses,
a principal-components
analysiswasconducted
on the datafrom all 30 itemsin the questionnaire.
(Verysimilar
resultswereobtainedwith oblique-rotation
profactor-analysis
cedures;hence,the structural configurationof scoresis not
specilicto this particularmethodof analysis)Loadingsof the
itemsin excessof .3 on the eightcomponentswith eigenvalues
greaterthan l, afterorthogonalrotation,aredisplayedin Table
3. Correlationsbetweenthe componentscoresand the age,sex,
spatialvisualization,inductivereasoning,
and perceptualspeed
variablesare displayedin Table 4. None of the correlations
betweenthe componentscoresand the educationor self-reportedhealthvariableswassigniflcant(i.e.,p > .05);thus,they
are not reported in Table4.
The first three componentscan be interpretedas representing relativelybroador nonspecificcumulativeexperience,
sub-
848
TIMOTHY A. SALTHOUSE AND DEBORA R. D. MITCHELL
Table I
CorrelationMatrix for PerformanceMeasuresand DemographicVariables(N : 353)
Measure
l. Age (years)
2. Sex"
3. Formaleducation(years)
4. Self-reportedhealthb
5. PaperFolding
6. SurfaceDevelopment
7. Abstraction
8. LetterSets
9. FindingAs
10. NumberComparison
M
.13
-.0t
-.05
.10
.06
-.01
*.38*
-.14*
.26*
.02
-.30*
-.22*
.23*
-.06
.67*
-.25*
-.07
.30f
.00
.60*
1.
*.26*
.01
.27*
-.05
.59*
.54*
.69t
-.17;
. 13
.t4*
.00
.21*
.24+
.33*
.44+
-.30r
.17*
.13
-.08
.29*
.30r
.36*
.47,
.46t
45.99
. 51
1 5 1. 4
1.99
1.69
7.23
I l.l0
7.52
27.33
22.20
SD
16.80
.50
2.52
r.09
4.30
I 1.43
5.37
4.'79
10.33
6.16
"Male= 0. female=l. ol= excellent.5=
poor.
*p<.01.
jectiveability,and recentexperiencecomponents,becauseall
of the loadingsfor eachcomponentderivefrom the sametype
items.That is,ComponentI is basedexclusively
of response
on
questions.Component
responses
to the cumulativeexperience
2 on responses
to the self-ratedability questions,and Component3 on responses
to the recentexperiencequestions.
As might be expected,Table4 indicatesthat scoreson the
cumulativeexperiencecomponentincreasewith age,whereas
with age.
thoseon the recentexperiencecomponentdecrease
ability componentarenegatively
correScoreson the subjective
latedwith agebut positivelycorrelatedwith both spatialvisual-
ization performanceand inductive reasoningperformance.
These latter resultssuggestthat the overall self-appraisalsof
ability havesomevalidity in that peoplewith higherself-ratings
perform better than people with lower self-ratingson testsof
spatialvisualizationand, to a lesserextent,alsoon testsof the
closelyrelatedinductive reasoningability
In contrastwith ComponentsI through3, the patternof
loadingsfor the remainingcomponentsis morespecificto the
particular activity being describedrather than to the type of
Thesecomponentscan thereresponseinformationrequested.
fore be inferred to representexperiencewith specific spatial
Table 2
Meansand StandardDeviationsof Responses
to Spatial ExperienceQuestionnaire(N : 343)
Ability rating
Item
l. lmaginingdifferent
arrangementsof furniture or
other objects
2. Consideringhow an objeclor
building would look from a
differentviewingposition
3. Devisingefficientwaysof
packingor loadinga box or car
trunk
4. Following instructionsfor the
assemblyof furniture, toys,
models,and so on
5. Visualizingtraveldirections
from a verbal description
6. Designingor making clothes
accordingto patterns
7. Producingor interpreting
technicaldrawings(e.g.,
blueprints)of three-dimensional
objects
8. Perlormingpaper-folding
activitiessuchasorigami
games
9. Solvingpiece-assembly
suchasjigsawpuzzles
10. Workingon spatial-manipulation
puzzleslike Rubik s Cube
M
,SD
3.5
0.9
Recent
experience
M
SD
Cumulative
experlence
M
SD
36.6
7.2
21.0
4.3
8.4
3.8
0.9
6.8
17.0
5.0
8.7
3.5
l.l
5.8
t7.2
4.9
8.6
3.6
1.0
5.9
I1.6
6.2
9.4
2.7
1.3
3.6
t4.5
4.0
10.0
3.0
1.3
5.'l
18.9
3.4
'1
.'7
2.7
l.l
0.8
2.2
1.2
3.'7
3.4
0.9
1.9
4.0
3.5
7.2
2.5
0.9
0.9
3.4
t.2
4.1
AGINGAND SPATIALEXPERIENCE
849
Table3
ComponentLoadings.fiom Principal-Components
Analysisof Questionnaire
Responses
After VarimaxOrthogonalRotation(N : 343)
Item
Abilr
RExl
CumExl
Abil2
REx2
CumEx2
Abil3
REx3
CumEx3
Abi14
REx4
CumEx4
Abil5
REx5
CumEx5
Abil6
REx6
CumEx6
AbilT
RExT
CumExT
AbilS
RExS
CumExS
Abil9
REx9
CumEx9
Abill0
RExl0
CumExl0
Eigenvalue
C2
CI
C3
C4
C5
C6
c'7
C8
n-
.61
.58
.72
.72
.60
.69
.77
.80
.65
.37
.43
.6t
78
. t l
.52
.87
.51
52
.47
4l
.'70
.56
.or+
.J-'
.o-,
.36
.65
.80
.87
.59
.68
.59
.s3
.36
.4t
.35
.69
.79
.64
36
57
.ot)
. 71
.16
.46
.55
6 .l 3
3.44
2.64
t.96
|.79
t.32
t.2t
.52
.68
.71
.64
.57
.63
.44
.62
.68
.66
.68
.'79
.75
.58
.70
.73
.75
.'77
.54
.56
.69
.57
.60
.60
1.03
Not? Cl: Non-specificcumulativeexperience;C2: Non-specificsubjectiveability; C3: Non-specilic
recentexperience;C4: Perspectivel
C5: Clothes;C6: Puzzlesl; C7: Puzzles2l C8: Directions.Abit subjectiveability; REx = recentexperience;
CumEx : cumulativeexDerience.
activities. Based on the loading patterns. Components 4
through 8 have been labeled Perspective,Clothes, Puzzles I,
Puzzles2, and Directions, respectively.Examination of Table 4
revealsthal, among the specilic components, only Component
4 (Perspective)and Component 8 (Directions) have significant
correlations with the composite measure of spatial visualization performance.
One meansof examiningthe validity of the experienceassessments
is to comparethe responses
of membersof occupationsassumedto requirespatialvisualizationabilitieswith the
responses
of the entiresample.For this purpose,the datafrom
I I participantswho reportedtheir occupationsas architects,
civil engineers,or interior decoratorsweregroupedtogetheq
and their scoreson eachof the componentswerecomputed.
Table 4
CorrelationsWith Principal Components(N : 343)
Componenl
Cl : Cumulativeexperience
C2: Subjective
ability
C3: Recentexperience
C4: Perspective
C5:Clothes
C6: PuzzlesI
C7: Puzzles2
C8: Directions
* p <.ol
Age
Sex
.26*
-.lg+
.06
.u
.20*
-.l3
.02
-.06
.01
./)'
.38*
-.07
.05
-.23*
Spatial
visualization
.08
.36+
-.04
.17*
.lI
-.01
.ut
.17*
Inductive
reasoning
-.tz
.21"
.00
.02
-.02
-.09
.l 6 *
Perceptual
speed
-.09
.10
.00
-.03
.02
.03
-.02
.08
850
TIMOTHY A. SALIHOUSE AND DEBORA R. D. MITCHELL
The mean valuesfor the individualsin this subsamplewere
within onestandarddeviationof the samplemeanfor all componentsexceptComponent4, for whichtheir meancomponent
scorewas2.29,with a rangeof L04 to 3.78.Component4 is the
Perspective
component,with primary loadingson Activities2,
4,and7 (seeTable3). Comparisonsof the estimatednumberof
hours per month devotedto theseactivities revealedthat the
subsample
estimatesaveraged
50.9hoursper month "considering how an objector building would look from a differentposition" (comparedwith 7.2 hoursfor the entiresample),27.2
hours per month "following instructionsfor the assemblyof
furniture, toys, models,etc." (comparedwith 5.8 hours per
month for the entiresample),and 50.7hoursper month "producingor interpretingtechnicaldrawingsof three-dimensional
objects"(comparedwith 5.7 hours for the entiresample).The
findingthat the estimatesfrom peopleexpectedto havegreater
with certainspatialvisualizationactivitiesweresubexperience
stantiallyhigherthan thosefrom the entire sampleenhances
the credibilityofthe experience
ratings.
Simultaneous Analysis of Age and Experience
A seriesof multiple regression
analyseswereconductedon
the spatialvisualization,inductivereasoning,and perceptual
speedcompositevariables.The first analysiswith eachvariable
wasa stepwiseregression
to determinewhichof the eightcomponentsftom the questionnairedata had significant(p <.01)
effectson the compositemeasuresof cognitiveperformance.
(2,4, and 8) weresignificantwith the spatial
Threecomponents
visualizationvariable,one (Component2) wassignificantwith
the inductivereasoningvariable,and nonewassignificantwith
the perceptualspeedvariable.The regressionanalyseswere
then repeatedwith only the significantcomponentsand ageas
predictorsand werethen repeatedagainfor the spatialvisualizationand inductivereasoningvariableswith perceptualspeed
as an additionalpredictor.Identicalanalyseswereconducted
on compositesbasedon the numberof corrector right responses
and on the numberof incorrector wrongresponses,
in
additionto the primary analysisthat wasbasedon the number
of right responses
minus the numberof wrong responses.
Resultsfrom theseanalyses
are summarizedin Table5.
The first point to note about Table 5 is that the absolute
valueso[ the varianceestimatesare largerwith the composite
basedon numberofright responses
than with that basedon the
right-wrong scores.This is probably a reflection of the lower
reliability of differencescoresbecauseall of the agecorrelations with the numberof right scoreswerenegativeand all of
thosewith the numberof wrongscoreswerepositive.(Notethat
this is inconsistentwith whatone would expectif therewerea
greateremphasison accuracythan on speedwith increased
age) A secondpoint concerningthe data in Table 5 is that
althoughsimilar patternsare evidentin the right-wrongand
right scores,very few systematiceffectswere evident in the
analyses
basedon the numberofwrong responses.
It is evidentin Table5 that the age-relatedeffectsin both the
spatialvisualizationand inductivereasoningvariableswereattenuatedby statisticalcontrolofthe questionnaire
components
and ofperceptualspeed.The proportion ofage-associated
variance for the spatialvisualizationvariablewas reducedfrom
.139to .083after controllingthe significantcomponentsfrom
the questionnaire,to .085 after controlling perceptualspeed,
and to .048 after controllingboth the questionnairecomponentsand perceptualspeed.Expressedin percentages,
the age
(. I 39 - .083)l I 391after control of
effectwasreducedby 40.3Vo
the questionnairecomponents,by 38.87o(. 139 - .085)11391
after control of perceptualspeed,and by 65.5Vo
[(.I 39 - .048)/
.1391after control of both. The age effectson the inductive
reasoningvariable were reducedlessby controlling the questionnaire componentsand more by controlling perceptual
speed.That is, the age effectswere reduced21.67,[(.088.069)1088
I aftercontrolof Component2, 67.}Vo(.088- .029)/
.0881after control of perceptualspeed,and 77.3Vo
K.088.020)10881
after simultaneouscontrol of both Component2
and perceptualspeed.
As notedearlier,Component2 reflectsthe individualSestimatesof his or her levelof ability acrossall activitiesand, becauseof the methodusedto identifycomponents,is independentof the amountof cumulativeor recentexperience
with any
of the activities.A moreappropriateevaluationof thecontribution of relevantexperienceto the age effectson measuresof
spatial visualization should therefore be restricted to effects
with Components4 and 8. The total varianceacassociated
countedfor by age,Component4, and Component8 was.176,
with.l20 of that uniquelyassociated
with age.The reductionof
age-associated
effectswas thereforel3.7Eo[(139- .120)1139].
After controlofperceptualspeed,the proportionofage-related
variancewas .085; this was reducedby l5.3%o,
to .072, after
control of Components4 and 8. Verysimilar estimatesof the
contributionsof experiencewerederivedfrom the measureof
the numberofright responses,
asthe reductionsin age-related
variancewereI 3.I 7owithoutconsideringperceptualspeedand
l4.l%ofor the speed-adjusted
measures.
Multipleregression
werealsoconductedwith AgeX
analyses
Component cross-productinteraction terms enteredafter age
and the eightquestionnairecomponents.None of the interactions wassignificant(i.e.,all p > .20)for eitherthe right-wrong
or the right scoresfor the inductivereasoningor perceptual
speedvariables.Noneofthe interactionsreachedthe.0I significancelevelwith the right-wrong scoresfor the spatialvisualization variable,but the interactionsof agewith Components2, 4,
(i.e.,p < .l0) with oneor both of
and 8 approached
significance
the right-wrong or the right scores.Another analysiswasthereforeconductedasa furthercheckon the possibilitythat experiencemay havemoderatedage-relatedeffectson spatial visualization. For this purpose,individuals were categorizedinto
threegroupson the basisoftheir scoreson Component2 (Subjective Ability), Component4 (Perspective),
and Component8
(Directions).Regression
equationsrelatingageto thecomposite
measureof spatialvisualizationperformancewerethen computed for the individualsin eachof thesethree groups.The
resultingregressionlinesareillustratedin FigureI (Component
2), Figure2 (Component4), and Figure3 (Component8). Confidence intervals around the regressioncoefficientsrevealed
that only the medium Component2 and low Component2
regressionequationshad significantly(p < .01) different
slopes.
The important point to note in Figures1,2, and 3 is that
althoughthe regressionlines for the individualswith higher
I
I
I
l
AGING AND SPATIAL EXPERIENCE
851
Table5
ProportionofvarianceAccountedfor in HierarchicalRegressionAnalyses(N : 343)
Right-Wrong
I
I
Variable
R2
Cum.R2
Risht
R2
Wrong
Cum. R2
R2
C u m .R 2
Spatialvisualization
Age
.t39*
.r39
.206*
.206
.023
.023
Component2
Component4
Component8
Age
.I29*
.029+
.027*
.093*
.t29
.t57
.184
.267
.150*
.043*
.035*
.129*
.150
.1 9 3
.228
.351
. 0 51 *
.004
.007
.01I
.051
.055
.062
.073
PerceptualSpeed
Age
.104*
.095*
.104
.189
.085*
.149*
.085
.234
.074*
.006
.0-/4
.080
PerceptualSpeed
Component2
Component4
Component8
Age
.104*
.l07t
.03li
.020*
.048*
.104
.2tl
.242
.262
. 3l 0
.085*
.I29*
.0464
.028*
.093*
.085
.214
.260
.288
.381
.074*
.039*
.006
.004
.00r
. ll 9
.123
-124
Age
.0gg*
.088
. 15 7 *
. t5 7
.005
.005
Component2
Age
.044*
.069*
.044
.l13
.052*
.l3l*
.052
.183
. 0l 6
.002
.016
. 0 18
PerceptualSpeed
Age
.227+
.0294
.227
.lJtJ
.2634
.069+
.263
.332
.087+
.000
.087
.087
PerceptualSpeed
Component2
Age
.2274
.021*
.020*
.227
.254
.274
.263*
.032*
.056*
.263
.295
. 3 5l
.087*
.009
.001
.087
.096
.097
.08l
.006
.074
. l l J
Inductive reasoning
Perceptualspeed
Age
. 0 81 *
.081
.081*
Mrlr,. Cum. R2 : cumulative squared multiple correlation.
* < .01 (florR'
only).
I
valueson the componentsare elevatedrelativeto thosewith
lower values(reflectingthe significantmain effectsof these
components),
the slopesof the lines,and particularlythoseof
the extremegroups,are nearlyparallel.This suggests
that the
ageeffectsaresimilar throughoutthe rangeof componentval_
uesand impliesthat it is not the casethat the magnitudeof the
ageeffectsis attenuatedamong individualswith the sreatest
amountof experience
or self-assessed
abilitv.
Discussion
I
I
Beforeconsideringthe implicationsofour results,it is impor_
tant to notethat the relationbetweenageand spatialvisualiza_
tion performanceevidentin this study is consistentwith that
foundin numerousearlierstudies.Forexample,the correlation
of -.37 betweenageand the compositemeasureof spatialvisu_
alizationin this studyis nearlyidenticalto the medianof -.39
for l8 correlationsbetweenage and spatialability measures
summarizedin TableI 2. I of Salthouse
(1985).This is notewor_
thy becausethe currentsampleis relativelyselect,with an aver_
ageofoverI 5 yearsofeducationanda -.0 I correlationbetween
ageand amountof education(Table1).
The age-related
effectson both the spatialvisualizationand
inductivereasoningvariablesweresubstantiallyreducedafter
controlof perceptualspeedand self-ratedability.The findings
with perceptualspeedreplicatethoseof earlier studies(e.g.,
Hertzog,1989;Salthouse,
Kausler,
&Saults,l ggg;Schaie,
l9g9)
and are consistentwith suggestions
that at leastsomeof the
adultagedifferences
in cognitivefunctioningareattributableto
age-related
reductionsin the rateof processinginformation.
The effectsassociatedwith Componenl2 are nor easyro
evaluatebecauseit is not clear how the self-ratingsofability
shouldbe interpreted.In particulaqit is difficult to determine
the extentto whichtheseratingsreflectpersonalitycharacteris_
tics such as self-confidence
or feelingsof self-efficacy,
as opposedto actuallevelsofcognitiveability.Ifthe self-ratings
are
merelyalternativeindicatorsof generalcognitiveability,then
they are of limited interestas potentialmediatorsor modera_
torsofage-related
differences
in cognitivefunctioning.Unfortunately,it wasnot possibleto distinguishbetweentheseinterpre_
tationsof the self:ratingmeasures
in our study.
The major conclusionimplied from our findingsis that
many of the age-relatedeffectson spatial visualizationobservedin this study,and presumablyotherstudies,seemto be
852
TIMOTHY A. SALTHOUSE AND DEBORA R. D. MITCHELL
1
o
o
o
1
o "'--..
x-
0.5
HighC2
a
I
MediumC2
N
o
o)
(u
o
<r.
o
o
o
(t
0
0.5
MediumC8
I
N
o
o)
(u
"'*
AT
0
LorvG8
----:
L
-0.5
(t)
--t---:::$
LowC2
-1
-0.5
-1
20
30 40 50 60 70
Age
Chronological
80
20
30 40 50 60 70
Age
Ghronological
80
l'igurc I. Regressionlines relatingcompositespatial visualization
scoreto agefbr individualsin the top. middle,and bottom thirdsof the
distributionof scoreson Component2 (C2:SubjectiveAbility).
spatialvisualization
linesrelatingcomposite
Figure3. Regression
andbottomthirdsof the
in thetop,middle,
scoreto ageforindividuals
8 (C8;Directions).
on Component
of scores
distribution
relatively independent ofthe amount ofrelevant experiencethe
individuals havereceived.That is, experiential factorsappear to
be responsiblefor only about I 57oofthe total age-relatedvarizince observed in measuresof spatial visualization. However,
acceptance of this conclusion is contingent on a number of
assumptions that can each be challenged. It is therefore useful
to consider arguments that can be raised in defense of three
questionnaireprovidea valid indicationof the actualexperiencesof the individuals.Evaluatingthe validity of self-report
informationof this type is alwaysdifficult,but thereareseveral
reasonsto haveconfidencein our questionnaireresults.F'irst,
to the questionnaireitemsapthe distributionsof responses
near the middle of the
pear plausible,with averageresponses
rangefor the subjectiveability ratingsand relativelysmall
for mostactivities(seeTable2).
amountsof reportedexperience
analysisresultedin a coherSecond,the principal-components
to
ent patternofboth generalcomponents(reflectingresponses
each type of scale)and specificcomponents(representing
meaningfulconfigurationsof self-ratedability, recentexperience,and cumulativeexperiencefor specificabilities).Third,
membersof occupationsin which one would expectfrequent
usageof spatialvisualizationabilitieshad exceptionallyhigh
scoreson the componentconcernedwith spatialperspective.
A secondassumptionimplicit in our approachthat could be
challengedis that the rangeofexperiencewassufficientto reAlveal the expectedinfluencesof differentialexperience.
aboutthis
thoughit maybe impossibleto dispelall reservations
assumption,it is important to point out that a considerable
wasreportedacrossparticipantsin
rangeofrelevantexperience
this study.To illustrate,the individualsin the top third ofthe
of
distributionof valueson Component4 reportedan average
40 hr per month lor performingthe threeconstituentactivities
(i.e.,2,4,and 7), whereasthosein the bottomthird of the distribution reportedan averageof only 6.5 hr per month for these
activities.Despitethis substantialdifferencein the amountof
time spentperformingwhat appearto be relevantactivities,the
data in Figure2 indicatethat the agetrends in measuresof
spatialvisualizationperformancefor the two subgroupswere
nearlyidentical.It is clearlypossiblethat individualswith more
extremelevelsof experiencemight be found and that differential age trendsmight be evidentwithin that sample,but the
critical assumptions.
One assumption of our approach is that the responsesto the
1
co
*...."tsn
""--..
o.
o
0.5
o
()
A-_-_"1
U'
I
N
o
o)
(u
o
0
LowC4
-0.s
Medium C4
z
-----:!
----------
""'*
,""
-!a
-1
20 30 40 50 60 70
Age
Chronological
80
I'igure 2. RegressionIines relatingcompositespatial visualization
scoreto agefor individualsin the top. middle,andbottom thirdsofthe
distributionof scoreson Component4 (C4; Perspective).
AGING AND SPATIAL EXPERIENCE
rangeofnaturally occurringexperiencewith spatialvisualization activities in our sampledoes appear unrepresentativeof
that expectedin the generalpopulation.
A third assumptionimplicit in the approachused in this
study is that the activitiesmentionedin the questionnaireare
amongthe most relevantfor spatialvisualizationabilities.An
objectioncould be raisedthat the requirements
of theseactivitiesarenot sumcientlysimilarto whatthe examineemustdo in
the PaperFoldingand SurfaceDevelopmenttestsusedin the
assessment
ofspatial visualizationability to expectsubstantial
relationsbetweenexperienceand spatial visualization performance.This is a plausibleconcern,but we havebeenunableto
identify relativelycommon activitiesthat appearto havegreater
relevanceto the spatialvisualizationconstruct.Moreover,it is
interestingto considerthe implicationsfor the disusehypothesisof the difficultyof finding activitiesrelevantto the abitities
observedto decrease
with increasedage:Ifthere are no activitiesthat provideappropriateexperience,
then neitherthe conceptsof usenor of disusemay be very meaningfulwith respect
to the maintenanceor declineof spatialabilitiesacrossthe life
span.
Additional objectionsto the current procedurescould undoubtedlybe raised,but it is noteworthythat resultssimilar to
thosefound in this study havepreviouslybeen reportedwith
quitedifferentmethodologies.
For example,threestudieshave
useda strategyof examiningagetrendsin molecular,or basic,
processes
afterequatingindividualsofdifferentagesin the proficiencyof a molar targetactivity.Charnessexaminedunexpectedrecallof bridgehandsamongbridgeplayers(Charness,
1979)and of chessconligurationsamongchessplayers(Charness,l98l ), and Salthouse
examinedmeasures
of perceptualmotorspeedamongtranscription
typists(Salthouse,
1984).In
each case,significantage-related
declineswere found in the
measureof the molecularprocesses
despitewhat can be assumedto be moderateto high amountsof relevantexperience
lor most researchparticipants.
Two studiesexaminingthe joint effectsof ageand reading
habitson recallof prosematerialarealsopertinentto the disuseperspective
if it is assumedthat experiencewith readingis
relevantto the taskofrecallingprosematerial.In a I 986study,a
questionnaire
wasadministeredto assess
the numberof hours
per weekdevotedto readingdifferenttypesof materialand the
individual'spreferences
for variouskinds of reading(Rice &
Meyer,1986).Althoughseveralof the summaryscoresderived
from a principal-components
analysisweresignificantlyrelated
to both ageand total recall performance,therewasno evidence
that the ageeffectsvariedasa functionofthe amountofreading experience.
A laterstudy by the sameinvestigators
(Rice,
Meyer,& Miller, 1988)involvedthe simultaneous
examination
of proserecall performanceand degreeof readingactivity,as
determinedfrom analyses
of diaries.Unflortunately,
Riceet al.
did not report the extent to which the age-relatedeffectsin
recall were attenuatedby controlling for amount of reading
experience,but they did indicate that the effectsof age and
educationallevelweremuchgreaterthan thoseassociated
with
readinghabits.
In summary,the findingsof our study,in conjunctionwith
the resultsofthe studiesjust reviewedand the occupation-specific studiesdescribedearlier,appearinconsistentwith the dis-
853
use perspective.Not only are the age-relatedeffectsgenerally
similar acrossdifferent levelsof presumablyrelevant experience(thisstudyand probablythe studiesof Rice& Meyeq1986,
and Rice et al., 1988),but they appearto be substantialeven
amongsamplesselectedto be equivalentwith respectto occupation(e.g.,
Glanzer& Glaser,1959;Glanzer,Glaseq& Richlin,
1958;Salthouseet al., 1990)or to level of molar ability (e.g.,
Charness,1979,l98l; Salthouse,1984).The seeminglyinescapable
conclusionfrom this bodyof evidenceis that manyof
the age-relatedeffectson measuresof relativelybasic abilities
are largelyindependentof the amountof relevantexperience.
We hastento point out, however,that this conclusiondoes
not imply that thereare not positivebenefitsof experienceor
that increasedage in adulthoodis inevitablyassociatedwith
declininglevelsof competence.
More extensive
experiencefrequently resultsin greaterknowledge(both declarativeand procedural),betterdiscriminationbetweenrelevantand irrelevant
information,more successful
executionof complexactivities,
and perhapsmoreeffectivemonitoringand deploymentof basic abilities.What remainsto be resolvedis the dynamicrelation betweenthe efficiencyof basicabilitiesand the operation
ofthesehigherorderprocesses,
and whether,and ifso how this
relationshipchangeswith age.
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