Compare the two major explanations for why people slow down with advancing age. What prediction do both approaches share in common?
What will be an ideal response?
A good answer would include the following key points:
- People take longer to accomplish tasks as they enter late adulthood; in essence, they slow down.
- The peripheral slowing hypothesis argues that the peripheral nervous system becomes less efficient with age. This means it takes longer for information from the environment to reach the brain, and longer for commands from the brain to reach their activation centers in the extremities.
- The generalized slowing hypothesis argues that processing in all parts of the nervous system, peripheral and central, becomes less efficient, leading to widespread decrements in processing capability.
- Both theories share the prediction that reaction time and processing speed should be affected by these changes. That is, older people should be slower to respond to a stimulus, and take longer to evaluate and act on information.
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