Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-p566r Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T22:27:48.901Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

13 - Benefits of graphic design expertise in old age: compensatory effects of a graphical lexicon?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Ulman Lindenberger
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin
Yvonne Brehmer
Affiliation:
Karolinska Institute, Stockholm
Reinhold Kliegl
Affiliation:
Universitä Potsdam
Paul B. Baltes
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, and University of Virginia
Chris Lange-Küttner
Affiliation:
London Metropolitan University
Annie Vinter
Affiliation:
Université de Bourgogne, France
Get access

Summary

The research of Lindenberger, Brehmer, Kliegl and Baltes into the cognitive decline-compensating effects of expertise is based on the difference between fluid and crystallized intelligence. While fluid intelligence measures such as speed and capacity are more biologically determined and thus decline with age, crystallized intelligence measures encompass culture-based skills and factual knowledge, and are more resilient to ageing-induced decline. Would the graphic expertise of professional older designers protect them against cognitive decline compared to young designers and two age- and intelligence-matched control groups? This was tested in a training study using the Method of Loci where visualization and imagery is essential, as recall of words is cued by previously associated landmarks. As expected, graphic designers showed better performance on spatial tests than controls, but this was even more pronounced in the older group, where the designers had consistently higher scores than their age peers. While older graphic designers could not match the performance of the young groups, they did fare better than their age-matched controls in the post-training Method of Loci memory assessment. It is concluded that although graphic expertise could not entirely compensate for the biologically determined reduction in fluid intelligence, there was a positive effect on episodic memory.

cognitive functioning in later periods of the adult lifespan is characterized by a dynamic interdependence between knowledge-related increments and senescent declines. To capture this interdependence, two-component models of cognition separate a biology-based component from a culture-based component of intellectual functioning (e.g. Baltes, 1987; Cattell, 1971).

Type
Chapter
Information
Drawing and the Non-Verbal Mind
A Life-Span Perspective
, pp. 261 - 280
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alpaugh, P. K. and Birren, J. E. (1977). Variables affecting creative contributions across the adult life span. Human Development, 20, 240–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baddeley, A. D. and Lieberman, K. (1980). Spatial working memory. In Nickerson, R. S. (ed.), Attention and performance (Vol. 3, pp. 521–39). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Baltes, P. B. (1987). Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: on the dynamics between growth and decline. Developmental Psychology, 23, 611–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baltes, P. B. and Kliegl, R. (1992). Further testing of limits of cognitive plasticity: negative age differences in a mnemonic skill are robust. Developmental Psychology, 28, 121–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baschek, I.-L., Bredenkamp, J., Oehrle, B. and Wippich, W. (1977). Bestimmung der Bildhaftigkeit (I), Konkretheit (C) und der Bedeutungshaltigkeit (m′) von 800 Substantiven [Determination of imageability (I), concreteness (C) and meaningfulness (m′) for 800 nouns]. Zeitschrift für Experimentelle und Angewandte Psychologie, 24, 353–96.Google Scholar
Bosman, E. A. (1993). Age-related differences in the motoric aspects of transcription typing skill. Psychology and Aging, 8, 283–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bosman, E. A. and Charness, N. (1996). Age-related differences in skilled performance and skill acquisition. In Blanchard-Fields, F. and Hess, T. M. (eds.), Perspectives on cognitive change in adulthood and aging (pp. 428–53). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Brehmer, Y., Li, S.-C., Müller, V., Oertzen, T. and Lindenberger, U. (2007). Memory plasticity across the lifespan: uncovering children's latent potential. Developmental Psychology, 43, 465–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bower, G. H. (1970). Analysis of a mnemonic device. American Scientist, 58, 496–510.Google Scholar
Cattell, R. B. (1971). Abilities: their structure, growth, and action. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Charness, N. (1981). Aging and skilled problem solving. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 110, 21–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Charness, N. (1989). Age and expertise: responding to Talland's challenge. In Poon, L. W., Rubin, D. C. and Wilson, B. A. (eds.), Everyday cognition in adulthood and late life (pp. 437–56). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Draganski, B., Gaser, C., Busch, V., Schuierer, G., Bogdahn, U. and May, A. (2004). Changes in grey matter induced by training. Nature, 427, 311–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekstrom, R. B., French, J. W. and Harman, H. H. (1976). Manual for kit of factor-references cognitive tests. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.Google Scholar
Jastrzembski, T. S., Charness, N. and Vasyukova, C. (2006). Expertise and age effects on knowledge activation in chess. Psychology and Aging, 21, 401–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenkins, L., Myerson, J., Joerding, J. A. and Hale, S. (2000). Converging evidence that visuospatial cognition is more age-sensitive than verbal cognition. Psychology and Aging, 15, 157–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, K. H. (2006). Can we trust creativity tests? A review of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT). Creative Research Journal, 8, 3–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kliegl, R., Smith, J. and Baltes, P. B. (1986). Testing-the-limits, expertise, and memory in adulthood and old age. In Klix, F. and Hagendorf, H. (eds.), Human memory and cognitive capabilities (pp. 395–407). Amsterdam: North-Holland/Elsevier.Google Scholar
Kliegl, R., Smith, J. and Baltes, P. B. (1989). Testing-the-limits and the study of adult age differences in cognitive plasticity of a mnemonic skill. Developmental Psychology, 25, 247–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kliegl, R., Smith, J. and Baltes, P. B. (1990). On the locus and process of magnification of age differences during mnemonic training. Developmental Psychology, 26, 894–904.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krampe, R. T. (2002). Aging, expertise, and fine motor movement. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 26, 769–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krampe, R. T. and Baltes, P. B. (2003). Intelligence as adaptive resource development and resource allocation: a new look through the lenses of SOC and expertise. In Sternberg, R. J. and Grigorenko, E. L. (eds.), Perspectives on the psychology of abilities, competencies, and expertise (pp. 31–69). New York:Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krampe, R. T., Engbert, R. and Kliegl, R. (2001). The effects of expertise and age on rhythm production: adaptations to timing and sequencing constraints. Brain and Cognition, 48, 179–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krampe, R. T. and Ericsson, K. A. (1996). Maintaining excellence: deliberate practice and elite performance in young and older pianists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 125, 331–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, S.-C. (2003). Biocultural orchestration of developmental plasticity across levels: the interplay of biology and culture in shaping the mind and behaviour across the lifespan. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 171–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, S.-C. and Lindenberger, U. (2002). Co-constructed functionality instead of functional normality. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 25, 761–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, S.-C., Lindenberger, U., Hommel, B., Aschersleben, G., Prinz, W. and Baltes, P. B. (2004). Transformations in the couplings among intellectual abilities and constituent cognitive processes across the life span. Psychological Science, 15, 155–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lindenberger, U. and Baltes, P. B. (1995). Testing-the-limits and experimental simulation: two methods to explicate the role of learning in development. Journal of Human Development, 38, 349–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindenberger, U., Kliegl, R. and Baltes, P. B. (1992). Professional expertise does not eliminate age differences in imagery-based memory performance during adulthood. Psychology and Aging, 7, 585–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindenberger, U., Li, S.-C. and Bäckman, L. (2006). Delineating brain-behaviour mappings across the lifespan: substantive and methodological advances in developmental neuroscience. Editorial. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 30, 713–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logie, R. H. (1986). Visuo-spatial processing in working memory. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38A, 229–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maguire, E. A., Gadian, D. G., Johnsrude, I. S., Good, C. D., Ashburner, J., Frackowiak, R. S. J., et al. (2000). Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers. Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesUSA, 97, 4398–4403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masunaga, H. and Horn, J. (2001). Expertise in relation to aging changes in components of intelligence. Psychology and Aging, 16, 293–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maylor, E. A. (1994). Ageing and retrieval of specialized and general knowledge: performance of “Masterminds”. British Journal of Psychology, 85, 105–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morrow, D. G. and Leirer, V. O. (1997). Aging, pilot performance, and expertise. In Fisk, A. D. and Rogers, W. A. (eds.), Handbook of human factors and the older adult (pp. 199–230). New York:Academic Press.Google Scholar
Morrow, D. G., Ridolfo, H. E., Menard, W. E., Sanborn, W. E., Stine-Morrow, E. A. L., Magnor, C.et al. (2003). Environmental support promotes expertise-based mitigation of age differences in pilot communication tasks. Psychology and Aging, 18, 268–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paivio, A., Yuille, J. C. and Madigan, S. A. (1968). Concreteness, imagery, and meaningfulness values for 925 nouns. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 76, 1–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rabbitt, P. M. A. (1993). Crystal quest: a search for the basis of maintenance of practised skills into old age. In Baddeley, A. and Weiskrantz, L. (eds.), Attention: selection, awareness, and control (pp. 188–230). Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Richardson, J. T. E. (1985). Converging operations and reported mediators in the investigation of mental imagery. British Journal of Psychology, 76, 205–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rose, T. L. and Yesavage, J. A. (1983). Differential effects of a list-learning mnemonic in three age-groups. Gerontology, 29, 293–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruth, J.-E. and Birren, J. E. (1985). Creativity in adulthood and old age: relations to intelligence, sex and mode of testing. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 8, 99–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salthouse, T. A. (1982). Adult cognition: an experimental psychology of human aging. New York:Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salthouse, T. A. (1984). Effects of age and skill in typing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 11, 345–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salthouse, T. A. (1991). Expertise as the circumvention of human processing limitations. In Ericsson, K. A. and Smith, J. (eds.), Towards a general theory of expertise: prospects and limits (pp. 286–300). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Singer, T., Lindenberger, U. and Baltes, P. B. (2003). Plasticity of memory for new learning in very old age: a story of major loss?Psychology and Aging, 18, 306–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neely, Stigsdotter A. and Bäckman, L. (1993). Long-term maintenance of gains from memory training in older adults: two 31/2-year follow-up studies. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 48, P233–P237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, L. A. and Kliegl, R. (1991). Adult age effects of plausibility on memory: the role of time constraints during encoding. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 17, 542–55.Google ScholarPubMed
Torrance, E. P. (1966a). Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking: directions manual and sorting guide. Princeton, NJ: Personnel Press.Google Scholar
Torrance, E. P. (1966b). Technical-norms manual for the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking: research edition. Princeton, NJ: Personnel Press.Google Scholar
Treat, N. J. and Reese, H. W. (1976). Age, pacing, and imagery in paired-associative learning. Developmental Psychology, 12, 119–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verhaeghen, P. and Marcoen, A. (1996). On the mechanisms of plasticity in young and older adults after instruction in the Method of Loci: evidence for an amplification model. Psychology and Aging, 11, 164–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Viggiano, M. P., Righi, S. and Galli, G. (2006). Category-specific visual recognition as affected by aging and expertise. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 42, 329–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walsh, D. A. and Hershey, D. A. (1993). Mental models and the maintenance of complex problem solving skills in old age. In Cerella, J., Rybash, J., Hoyer, W. and Commons, M. L. (eds.), Adult information processing: limits on loss (pp. 553–84). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1964). Der Hamburger-Wechsler-Intelligenztest für Erwachsene (HAWIE). Berne: Huber.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×