Nature and Impact of Development in Processing Speed

描述(由申请人提供)：儿童、青少年和成年人执行心理过程的速度的年龄差异普遍存在且很大。此外，加工速度的年龄差异往往通过工作记忆直接或间接地影响其他认知过程。了解这些年龄差异的性质和后果是拟议工作的总体目标。这一目标有三个具体目标： 1.大多数关于加工速度变化的证据来自横断面研究；对个体加工速度增长的了解相对较少。一项拟议的纵向研究将提供关于儿童和青春期个体处理速度增长的性质的证据。 2.与年龄相关的加工速度变化后果的证据主要是基于对加工速度和其他认知过程之间的相关性的横断面分析。这项拟议的纵向研究旨在为加工速度发展变化的认知后果提供更有力的证据。 3.认知发展既反映了全局性的过程(例如，处理速度、工作记忆)，也反映了特定知识领域特有的过程。然而，很少有研究同时解决单个任务或领域内的全局和特定领域流程的贡献。四项研究将揭示与年龄相关的加工速度变化的间接和直接影响如何与特定领域的过程相互作用，从而产生认知变化。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Age differences in the speed with which children, adolescents, and adults execute mental processes are ubiquitous and large. Furthermore, age differences in processing speed often affect other cognitive processes directly and indirectly, via working memory. Understanding the nature and consequences of these age differences is the general goal of the proposed work. Three specific aims follow from this goal: 1. Most of the evidence concerning change in processing speed comes from cross-sectional studies; relatively little is known about growth of processing speed in individuals. A proposed longitudinal study will provide evidence concerning the nature of growth of processing speed in individuals during childhood and adolescence. 2. Evidence regarding the consequences of age-related change in processing speed it is based largely on cross-sectional analyses of correlations between processing speed and other cognitive processes. The proposed longitudinal study is designed to provide stronger evidence for the cognitive consequences of developmental change in processing speed. 3. Cognitive development reflects both processes that are global (e.g., processing speed, working memory) as well as processes specific to particular domains of knowledge. Nevertheless, there is little research that addresses the contributions of both global and domain-specific processes within a single task or domain. Four studies are proposed that would reveal how the indirect and direct effects of age-related change in processing speed interact with domain-specific processes to yield cognitive change.