Age and sex differences in reaction time in adulthood: Results from the United Kingdom Health and Lifestyle Survey.
Top Cited Papers
- 1 March 2006
- journal article
- Published by American Psychological Association (APA) in Psychology and Aging
- Vol. 21 (1) , 62-73
- https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.21.1.62
Abstract
Reaction times (RTs) slow and become more variable with age. Research samples are typically small, biased, and of restricted age range. Consequently, little is known about the precise pattern of change, whereas evidence for sex differences is equivocal. The authors reanalyzed data for 7,130 adult participants in the United Kingdom Health and Lifestyle Survey, originally reported by F. A. Huppert (1987). The authors modeled the age differences in simple and 4-choice reaction time means and variabilities and tested for sex differences. Simple RT shows little slowing until around 50, whereas choice RT slows throughout the adult age range. The aging of choice RT variability is a function of its mean and the error rate. There are significant sex differences, most notably for choice RT variability.Keywords
Funding Information
- Medical Research Council
- Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award
This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- Reaction Time Explains IQ's Association with DeathPsychological Science, 2005
- IQ, reaction time and the differentiation hypothesisIntelligence, 2003
- Understanding AgeingGerontology, 2001
- There are stable individual differences in performance variability, both from moment to moment and from day to dayThe Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A, 2001
- Intraindividual Variability in Cognitive Performance in Persons With Chronic Fatigue SyndromeThe Clinical Neuropsychologist, 2001
- Sensorimotor Variables and Forced Expiratory Volume as Correlates of Speed, Accuracy, and Variability in Reaction Time Performance in Late AdulthoodAging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 1999
- Cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships among age, cognition, and processing speed.Psychology and Aging, 1999
- Why do adult age differences increase with task complexity?Developmental Psychology, 1992
- A Direct Synthesis of Diethyl 1-Alkyl-2-oxoalkanephosphonatesSynthesis, 1976
- On the Degree of Association Between Reaction Times in the Case of Different SensesBiometrika, 1923