Executive functions in the young elderly and oldest old: a preliminary comparison emphasizing decision making

• Autor(a) principal: Bakos,Daniela Schneider
• Data de Publicação: 2008
• Outros Autores: Couto,Maria Clara Pinheiro de Paula, Melo,Wilson Vieira, Parente,Maria Alice de M. P., Koller,Silvia H., Bizarro,Lisiane
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Psychology & Neuroscience (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1983-32882008000200011
• topic: executive functions; oldest old; decision making; IGT

This study aimed at investigating differences in the performance of the young elderly and oldest old in tasks evaluating cognitive flexibility/inhibition (Stroop test), selective attention/working memory (Digit Span Subtest), premorbid intelligence/semantic knowledge (Vocabulary Subtest), and decision making (Iowa Gambling Task - IGT). Twenty healthy individuals were divided into two groups: 10 young elderly (M = 62 years, SD = 2.1) and 10 oldest old (M = 80 years, SD = 3.3), both with high educational level (M = 14 years of study, SD = 2.5). Results showed that the groups were only different in terms of decision making. There was also a difference in the learning process of each group; the young elderly reached more favorable scores in the IGT.