Are there age-related differences in the ability to learn configural responses?

Age is often associated with a decline in cognitive abilities that are important for maintaining functional independence, such as learning new skills. Many forms of motor learning appear to be relatively well preserved with age, while learning tasks that involve associative binding tend to be negatively affected. The current study aimed to determine whether age differences exist on a configural response learning task, which includes aspects of motor learning and associative binding. Young (M = 24 years) and older adults (M = 66.5 years) completed a modified version of a configural learning task. Given the requirement of associative binding in the configural relationships between responses, we predicted older adults would show significantly less learning than young adults. Older adults demonstrated lower performance (slower reaction time and lower accuracy). However, contrary to our prediction, older adults showed similar rates of learning as indexed by a configural learning score compar...

年龄通常与认知能力的下降相关，而这些能力对于维持功能独立性至关重要，例如学习新技能。多种形式的运动学习似乎随年龄增长保留较好，而涉及联想绑定（associative binding）的学习任务则往往受到负面影响。本研究旨在探究构型反应学习任务（configural response learning task）中是否存在年龄差异，该任务包含运动学习与联想绑定的元素。年轻成人（平均年龄24岁）与老年成人（平均年龄66.5岁）完成了一项改良版的构型学习任务。鉴于反应间构型关系对联想绑定的需求，我们预测老年成人的学习效果会显著低于年轻成人。老年成人表现出较低的任务绩效（反应时更长且准确率更低）。然而，与预测相反，老年成人在以构型学习得分衡量的学习速率方面表现出与年轻成人相似的水平……