工作记忆在归纳推理能力老化中的作用

The Role of Working Memory in Inductive Reasoning Aging

目的:考查工作记忆系统中与目标保持密切相关的成分——工作记忆容量、转换和抑制功能在归纳推理能力老化中的作用。方法:招募年轻和老年被试共117名,接受图形推理测验、数字工作记忆广度测验、任务转换和Stroop测验。结果:工作记忆容量在归纳推理能力老化中起到显著的中介作用,而转换功能的中介作用则未达到显著。结论:增龄导致了工作记忆容量的衰退,进而造成了归纳推理能力的老化。

Objective ： Reasoning is believed to be the core component of general fluid intelligence. A high correlation has been repor ted between reasoning ability and working memory. There are studies showing that reasoning aging can be mediated by working memory. Some researchers explain that working memory can affect the target maintenance in cognitive tasks and thus affect the performance of rea soning ability. However, previous relevant studies usually focused on the role of working memory capacity, while the other components of working memory which are important to target maintenance, such as attention switching and inhibition, were rarely involved. Moreo ver, most of the previous studies chose college students as subjects, while the reasoning aging was not studied enough as an important area. In this study, the components of working memory system, which are closely related to target maintenance, working memory capac ity, attention switching and inhibition, were chosen as the indicators to examine the role of working memory in inductive reasoning ag ing. Methods ： a total of 43 community dwelling older adults, ranging from 75 to 95 years old , and 74 college students ranging from 18 to 29 years old, were recruited. All the participants took a battery of tests including Graphical Reasoning Test, Operation Working Memory Span Test, Task switching Test and Stroop Test on a computer. In the Graphical Reasoning test, the subjects were asked to find the target figure among the five alternative choices according to a change in the rules between two given figures. In the Operation Working Memory Span Test, the participants were instructed to perform the calculation in their mind and memorize the answer to each question, holding the entire set of answers in their memory until they were instructed to recall them in the same serial order that the e quations had been presented. In the Task switching test, a 2 ~ 2 grid was placed in the central part of the screen and there was a three digit number in one field of the grid. When the number appeared in the two cells above, the subjects were asked to determine whether this number was odd. When the number appeared in the two ceils below, the subjects were asked to determine whether the number was more than 500. In the Stroop test, the subjects were shown Chinese characters written in color, （e. g. , ＂red＂ in green） and they were asked to determine the print color of the characters. Results ： Correlation analysis results showed that working memory ca pacity and attention switching ability were significantly correlated with the inductive reasoning ability. Meanwhile, the same result was not observed between the inhibition and reasoning ability, thus the indicator of inhibition was not included in the further analysis. The mediating effect analysis showed that ： （ 1 ） There was significant mediating effect of working memory capacity between age and inductive reasoning ability, the effect size was 18% ; （2） the mediating effect of attention switching was not significant; 3）the inhibition ability was not able enter into the mediating model. Conclusion ： There was a significant mediating effect of working memory capacity between age and inductive reasoning.