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Speed of Behavior as an Indicator of Age Changes and the Integrity of the Nervous System

  • Conference paper
Brain Function in Old Age

Part of the book series: Bayer-Symposium ((BAYER-SYMP,volume 7))

Abstract

It is not possible at this time to present an integrated and simple perspective on the behavioral changes associated with advancing age. There are some functions which in healthy adults may continue to improve with age, such as verbal comprehension. There are other functions, like certain personality traits which seem to be remarkably stable over the adult years, and are in this sense indifferent to aging. Still other functions, like speed of behavior, seem to be sensitive to changes in the organism with advancing age and show alterations early in adult life. Furthermore, it is impossible to review the entire range of empirical findings on psychological phenomena of aging in a single paper. The vastness of the literature can be seen in the chapters of the Handbook of the Psychology of Aging (Birren and Schaie, 1977). It seems desirable, therefore, to limit the scope of this paper to a discussion of age changes in speed of behavior, since it may not only be manageable in scope, but also be valuable in identifying important issues in the psychology of aging.

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  1. J. E. Birren
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  2. A. M. Woods
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  3. M. V. Williams
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Pharmakologie der Bayer AG, Postfach 101709, D-5600, Wuppertal 1, Fed. Rep. of Germany

    Friedrich Hoffmeister

  2. Hôpital de Cery, Clinique Psychiatrique Universitaire de Lausanne, CH-1008, Prilly, Switzerland

    Christian Müller

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Birren, J.E., Woods, A.M., Williams, M.V. (1979). Speed of Behavior as an Indicator of Age Changes and the Integrity of the Nervous System. In: Hoffmeister, F., Müller, C. (eds) Brain Function in Old Age. Bayer-Symposium, vol 7. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-67304-7_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-67304-7_3

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