What is the typical developmental progression of psychomotor speed in mid to later life? How is the use of psychomotor speed most indicative of cognitive skills, and what implications does it have to the real-life event of driving?
What will be an ideal response?
As the textbook notes, one of the few universal findings related to age-related changes involves psychomotor speed. The simplest way to say it is that psychomotor speed declines as we age, and this finding has been almost universally supported by research. Taking time to decide what to respond to may be as salient in this finding as the actual response time itself, as older adults take more time to decide what is and is not significant.
Psychomotor speed is a useful marker of cognitive development (including decline) on tasks that require little effort, but on more difficult tasks working memory is a better predictor of performance.
With regard to driving, the combination of reduced psychomotor speed and declines in vision, hearing, and attention have led some to question older adults' competence as drivers.
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