Abstract
This experiment investigated whether well-learned “automatic” processes remain stable as a function of age, as well as whether the ability to modify automatic processes is disrupted for older adults. We used an arithmetic “Stroop” task. Nineteen young (mean 22) and 19 old adults (mean 75) participated in three sessions for a total of 450 trials. The young subjects had faster verification times, overall, than the old adults. Both young and old subjects showed significant Stroop interference. These results support the hypothesis that automatic processes, in this case access of addition and multiplication tables, are maintained for old adults. Furthermore, both groups reduced their RT with practice. For the young adults, there was a decrease in interference with practice suggesting that they were learning to inhibit the automatic process of performing the arithmetical operation. However, the old adults showed no significant decrease in interference, which implies that they were impaired in their ability to inhibit automatic processes, even when those processes interfered with performance. Theoretical and practical training implications are discussed.
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