Morales, B. 1 , Facal, D. 1 , González, M. F. 1 , Díaz, U. 1 , Ansorena, X. 1 , Alonso, L. 2 & Urdaneta, E. 1
1 Fundación Instituto Gerontologico Matia - INGEMA
2 Departamento de Psicología Biológica y de la Salud - Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
Memory and attentional processes have been classically related to processing resources in middle-aged and elderly persons, including speed of response. In most of these studies, these processes have been measured through paper-and-pencil tasks. In this research, we aim to replicate these findings through computerized tasks. We applied to a Spanish sample of 88 elders (age =69,99; s.d.=6,66) a set of test from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), including Paired Associates Learning (PAL, visual memory and new learning), Intra-Extra Dimensional Set Shift (IED, shifting and flexibility of attention), Reaction Time (RTI, Five-choice speed of response) and Motor Screening (MOT, simple speed of response). Pearson bivariate correlations showed significant relations, some of them inverse, between age and RTI (r=0.337, p=0.002), MOT (r=0.297, p=0.007) and PAL stages completed on first trial (r=-0.240, p=0.031), total errors adjusted (r=0.350, p=0.001), first trial memory score (r=-0.297, p=0.007) and stages completed (r=-0.312, p=0.005), but not between age and IED. Low to moderate but inversely significant correlations were found between MOT and stages completed of PAL and IED (r=0.315, p=0.003; r=-0.243, p=0.024). These results point to a some kind of relation between speed of response and superior processes. Other different factors should be studied.