THE ROLES OF PROCESSING SPEED AND WORKING MEMORY IN COGNITIVE AGING
加工速度和工作记忆在认知年老化过程中的作用

This study, involving a sample of 1350 adults of 20 to 90 years of age and a battery tests of sensory-motor speed, working memory, normal memory, thought and spatial representation in computer, was conducted to analyze the roles of processing speed and recognition in cognitive aging by using the method of hierarchical regression analysis. The results indicated: (1) The contributions of processing speed and working memory to cognitive abilities in aging were about 87% and 76%. (2) The total contribution of processing speed and working memory to cognitive abilities in aging was about 94%. These results led us to conclude that processing speed and working memory play determinative roles in cognitive aging.