Adult Cognition: Piagetian Based Research Findings

The work of Jean Piaget, widely recognized as pertinent to childhood cognition, has in recent years generated significant research based on adult samples. Because traditional Piagetian em phasis has been on young children the potential application of Piaget's theory to help in understanding and in explaining adult cognition has not been widely appreciated. Increasing in terest in adult development, however, has stimulated additional speculation and investigation in to the questions of adult cognition, including efforts to conceptualize adult cognitive develop ment in Piagetian terms.

Application of Piagetian concepts to the study of adult cognition has occurred across a wide range and heretofore only limited efforts have been made to organize a review of the Piagetian literature on adult cognition around selected central issues. This extensive review, based on adult samples, reports the research findings concerning three specific topical issues that are of interest to the adult educator. The topics reviewed include the necessity, universality and persistence of the formal operations stage. Based on the literature reviewed, it is concluded that each of the topics requires further study, analysis and conceptualization.

A Review of Aging and Cognitive Processes

An overview of the literature of aging and cognitive processes is presented, with emphasis on the areas of psychometric measurement of intelligence, qualitative interpretations of adult thinking, and the speed and timing of behavior. It is argued that the study of psychometric intelligence has gone through four distinct phases, reflecting an expanding data base and an evolving theoretical orientation and methodology. Contemporary research on aging and intelligence continues to be undertaken from at least three of the four perspectives. Qualitative and quantitative approaches to cognition have both provided evidence for increased integration in the thinking of older people, although the two approaches have different conceptualizations of integration. There is extensive evidence to support the contention that the speed of behavior slows with age, and the slowing affects efficiency of behavior rather than simply causing the response to occur more slowly. Cognition in aging includes great diversity, ranging from senility to wisdom.

A cognitive complexity metric applied to cognitive development

Two experiments tested predictions from a theory in which processing load depends on relational complexity (RC), the number of variables related in a single decision. Tasks from six domains (transitivity, hierarchical classification, class inclusion, cardinality, relative-clause sentence comprehension, and hypothesis testing) were administered to children aged 3-8 years. Complexity analyses indicated that the domains entailed ternary relations (three variables). Simpler binary-relation (two variables) items were included for each domain. Thus RC was manipulated with other factors tightly controlled. Results indicated that (i) ternary-relation items were more difficult than comparable binary-relation items, (ii) the RC manipulation was sensitive to age-related changes, (iii) ternary relations were processed at a median age of 5 years, (iv) cross-task correlations were positive, with all tasks loading on a single factor (RC), (v) RC factor scores accounted for 80% (88%) of age-related variance in fluid intelligence (compositionality of sets), (vi) binary- and ternary-relation items formed separate complexity classes, and (vii) the RC approach to defining cognitive complexity is applicable to different content domains.

Cognitive developmental approach to dementia

Systematic observations of people suffering from dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) reveal they regress in behavior and become childlike. These observations have been used to structure clinical research and therapeutic interventions for dementia patients. However, no concise framework explains successful caregiving. Models for care exist but they lack an adequate framework for the long-term care of a person with DAT. This state of the science review describes what is known about cognitive functioning in people with DAT. It examines studies based on cognitive functioning. It also then relates this information to an emerging theory tentatively identified as a "cognitive developmental approach" which may be useful for understanding people with dementia and for predicting caregiver requirements.

Cognitive performance on Piagetian tasks by Alzheimer's disease patients

The purpose of this study was to examine cognitive abilities in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients using Piaget's child developmental theory. Thirty elderly AD patients and 30 elderly control subjects were given two traditional Piagetian measures, the Infant Psychological Development Scale and the Concrete Operations Test. Half of the AD subjects (15) were in Piaget's sensorimotor or preoperational stages, while the remaining half of the AD subjects and all elderly control subjects were in Piaget's concrete operational stage, chi 2 [1, N = 60] = 17.42, p less than .001. If subsequent studies confirm that AD patients' cognitive characteristics are similar to Piaget's theoretical model, nursing care might be individualized based on mental competence, thus minimizing the commonly observed caregiver overestimation and underestimation of the AD patient's ability to understand and cooperate.

Do sex-role appropriate materials influence the Piagetian task performance of older adults?

The intent of this study was to assess the influence of sex-role appropriate materials on the utilization of logical competence among older persons, and to determine how such materials interact with subject's sex-role identity to affect cognitive performance. Thirty male and 30 female Ss (mean age = 71.3 years) were administered the Short Form of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and either a male-oriented, a female-oriented, or a traditional version of two concrete operational and two formal operational Piagetian tasks. Gender was found to influence performance on one of the concrete tasks, task orientation influenced performance on one of the formal tasks, and sex-role classification interacted with task orientation to influence performance on both of the formal operational tasks. The pattern of results suggested that subjects may perform best on those versions of the formal operational tasks that do not match their own sex type. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed.

Determinants of cognitive abilities in the elderly

One hundred and fifteen men between the ages of fifty and ninety-three were administered six cognitive tasks: a verbal intelligence subtest, a nonverbal intelligence subtest, two tests of concrete operations, one test of formal operations, and a problem-solving task. The obtained scores were factor analyzed. Two factors were obtained, a nonverbal, performance factor and a verbal-reasoning factor. Regression analyses in which age, education, occupation, years since retirement, health status, activity level, and marital status were predictor variables performed on the factor scores obtained for each of the factors. The nonverbal performance factor was significantly predicted by age while the verbal factor was significantly predicted by education. None of the other predictors were significant. The results suggest that verbal and nonverbal abilities may be determined by different antecedents. Since different cognitive abilities may have different antecedents and since these antecedents may have different relationships to age, it is important to view adult cognitive development as multidimensional and multidirectional rather than as normative and unidirectional.

Classification Preference among Elderly Indian Subjects

Thirty Indian adults were tested on a Piagetian cognition task which involved stimuli which they could classify or seriate. The stimuli consisted of a familiar shape, cup cutouts, of five different sizes and five colour intensities. There were 25 pieces altogether. In this situation, the majority of the subjects preferred to make a partial classification response, and none of the subjects seriated. There was a significant sex difference with the females using a more ‘primitive’ response category than males. The results are discussed in terms of possible reasons for the findings and further research possibilities are suggested.

Cross-sectional analysis of cognitive functioning across the life-span

Performance on Piagetian logical concept tasks, standardized intellectual measures, and measures of memory ability, was assessed cross-sectionally. One-hundred-sixty individuals participated. Differential item difficulty patterns were noted on the Piagetian tasks. Curvilinear trends were evident for class inclusion, combinatorial reasoning, and conservation of surface area. Factorial analyses of variance revealed significant chronological age main effects for all tasks except transitivity of weight. Covariance analyses indicated that educational level is generally more closely related to logical concept performance than is chronological age. Dimensional analyses revealed separate factors for general intelligence, classification, relations, and conservation. The youngest and oldest age groups has similar factor patterns; these differed from those of the mature participants.

Conservation among the elderly: an assessment of women

This study was conducted to investigate decline of abilities to perform Piagetian measures of conservation of surface area, mass, and volume among a volunteer sample of elderly women. All of the 54 volunteer subjects were judged to be middle-class, ambulatory, and approximately “normal, older people” living outside an institute. Subjects had a mean age of 68.60, showed no overt signs of ill health, and appeared to be alert and responsive. Data indicated that a great proportion of the subjects were able to perform all the Piagetian tasks.

Concrete and formal operational thought processes in young adulthood and old age

A study was conducted to examine the role of concrete and formal operations in a young and old population. In addition, the present study explored the relation between operational thought and Cattell's concept of fluid and crystallized intelligence, as well as the role of differential living arrangements in maintaining operational thought. Eighty females from three age groups (18-20 years, 60-70 years and 70-80 years of age) were tested on a series of Piagetian tasks and indices of fluid and crystallized intelligence. The findings supported the notion that age-related performance differences occur in the area of formal operational thought prior to the time they occur in concrete operational thought. Except for the young sample, the operational tasks were found to be unrelated to fluid intelligence at the age levels represented in this study. Living independently as opposed to living in an old age home did not appear to be a significant factor in maintaining operational thought. Discussion focused on the necessity of identifying those factors which influence the developmental course of formal operational thought across the life span.

Moral development and perceptual role-taking egocentrism: their development and interrelationship across the life-span

Moral judgments and perceptual role taking egocentrism were assessed in seventy-two middle-class people whose age range encompassed a significant portion of the life span. Findings support the anticipated curvilinear relationship between moral development and age, and egocentrism and age. However, the close conceptual development and age, and egocentrism and age. However, the close conceptual relationship between moral development and egocentrism throughout life received only slight statistical support, which attained significance only in the fifteen- to nineteen-year-old age group. The existence of "self-involving" egocentrism was postulated to be an important determinant or moral development during adulthood.

Conservation Ability of Elderly Men Living in the Community and an Institution

The present study assessed possible differences in decline of ability for logical operations for 10 elderly community residents and two elderly institutionalized groups ( ns = 10). While 100% conservation was shown by the community group on two-dimensional space, number, substance, continuous quantity, weight, and discontinuous quantity, and 80% conservation of volume, the institutionalized groups showed much lower rates. The implication is that active elderly persons who reside in their own homes will not show the apparent decrement noted in earlier studies of institutionalized persons. The relationship between logical operations and fluid intelligence was supported by the diminished conservation performance of neurologically impaired institutionalized groups. Other sampling effects which might account for the differing results among studies were age and length of institutionalization.

Relationship of residence, education, and socialization to cognitive tasks in normal people of advanced old age

40 aged residents of a dependent care facility were tested on a series of cognitive conservation tasks. A decrement toward lowered levels of cognitive functioning was noted but specific psycho-social factors were related to this decline. Length of residence in dependent context and involvement in socialization and leisure activities were significantly related to level of cognitive functioning and were independent of sex. However, attained educational level was positively related to cognitive conservation for females but not for males. Analysis of qualitative responses to tasks suggests important considerations.

An evaluation of quantity conservation performance during old age

Forty eight subjects ranging in age from 64 to 85 years were administered Piagetian conservation of substance, weight, and volume tasks. Quantity conservation abilities were not intact from many subjects. Males tended to exceed females on all abilities. Correlations between age and performance were low; the relationship between education and performance was positive.