Many aspects of cognition decline from middle to late adulthood, but the dimensionality and generality of this decline have rarely been examined. We analyzed 20-year longitudinal data of 6203 middle-aged to very old adults from Greater Manchester and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. Participants were assessed up to eight times on 20 tasks of fluid…

Elderly people show preservation, or even enhancement, of data-driven control but loss of memory-driven control of selective attention. As people grow older they become more labile and more subject to control by external events. Old subjects remember, analyse, and employ smaller samples of the recent past. (Author)