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Reorganization of the Association between Intelligence and the Characteristics of Attention and Memory on Aging

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The association between intelligence and measures of the functions of the systems underlying attention and the recognition of verbal and image stimuli presented for memorization, as well as the lateral characteristics of speech memory were studied in members of an elderly age group (64.5 ± 6.3 years, n = 83; 43 women) and a young age group (22.0 ± 4.5 years, n = 133; 83 women). The rate of selection of information in conditions of conflict served as a predictor of the level of intelligence, independently of age. In elderly subjects, a higher level of intelligence corresponded to shorter executive control times, while no significant link between intelligence and functional measures of the attention system was seen in young people. Analysis of the properties of memory showed that reproduction of words addressed to the left hemisphere made a positive contribution to intelligence; in young people verbal memory for words addressed to the right hemisphere also made a contribution, while in elderly people there was a contribution from the efficiency of recognizing remembered verbal and image stimuli. Gender-linked features were seen in the age-related reorganization of the contribution of attention and memory to intelligence, with more marked changes in men.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute of Physiology and Basic Medicine, Novosibirsk, Russia

    O. M. Razumnikova & N. V. Vol’f

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  1. O. M. Razumnikova
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  2. N. V. Vol’f
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Correspondence to O. M. Razumnikova.

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Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel’nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 67, No. 1, pp. 55–67, January–February, 2017.

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Razumnikova, O.M., Vol’f, N.V. Reorganization of the Association between Intelligence and the Characteristics of Attention and Memory on Aging. Neurosci Behav Physi 48, 453–462 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-018-0586-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-018-0586-4

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