Using stories to assess linear reasoning abolishes the age-related differences found in formal tests
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21689121 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Grzegorz Sedek (0000-0001-8932-0868, Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Cognitive Studies, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland, corresponding author), Paul Verhaeghen (0000-0002-9164-7170, Georgia Institute of Technology), Kamila Lengsfeld (Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Cognitive Studies, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland), Klara Rydzewska (0000-0002-5683-6320, Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Cognitive Studies, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 623-633 |
| Publication date | 2021-10-02 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Thinking & Reasoning (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1354-6783 • E-ISSN: 1464-0708 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13546783.2021.1911847 |
| OpenAlex | W3154130060 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 15 |
Older adults are known to have difficulty with tests of formal reasoning. Inspired by previous work suggesting an influence of participants’ living ecology on reasoning ability, we examined in a group of 270 younger, middle-aged, and older adults whether presenting transitive reasoning problems (i.e., A > B, B > C, hence A > C) as informal narrative stories rather than formal problems might alleviate age-related declines. Formal materials resulted in the usual (strong) age-related differences favouring the young. In contrast, when informal spoken narratives were used and additionally all time pressure was removed, adult age differences were effectively abolished, possibly because the tasks now allow for easier encoding into and retrieval from episodic memory. This suggests that older adults’ real-life reasoning abilities are seriously underestimated when standard testing procedures are used
Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Episodic memory · Linguistics · Narrative · Transitive relation · Aging and Gerontology Research · Child and Animal Learning Development · Computer Science · Mathematics · Memory Processes and Influences · Psychology · Social Psychology · Artificial Intelligence
| Highly cited | No |
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