Are item-level strategy shifts abrupt and collective? Age differences in cognitive skill acquisition

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Dayna R. Touron, Professor of Psychology and Associate Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: Item-level analysis allows for the examination of qualitative age and individual differences in skill acquisition, which are obscured when aggregating data across items. In the present study, item-level strategy shifts were generally gradual and variable, rather than abrupt and collective. Strategy shift reversions were frequent, and the total transition space was extensive, for both younger and older adults. Shift indices were highly variable between items for both younger and older adults. Age differences in item-level shift patterns suggest that older adults’ greater conservatism in strategy selection leads to more gradual strategy shift transitions for individual items as well as to more collective strategy shifts.

Additional Information

Publication
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13, 781-786
Language: English
Date: 2006
Keywords
item-level analysis, age differences, cognitive skill acquisition, item-level strategy shifts

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