Review of An Investigation of Reaction Time in Older Adults

Abstract

Reviews the book, An Investigation of Reaction Time in Older Adults, and its Relation to Certain Observed Mental Test Patterns by William Goldfarb (1941). This research belongs in the general field of the psychology of maturity, and is concerned with problems which arise in investigating the supposed decline of abilities with age. The major problems considered are: What is the relationship between simple reaction time and age, and discrimination reaction time and age? What is the relationship between the age of older adults and their scores in power tests of intelligence, their scores in mixed speed and power tests of intelligence, and their scores in tests which stress speed and minimize power? What is the relationship between reaction time of older adults and their scores in power tests of intelligence, and their scores in mixed speed and power tests of intelligence? The author concludes that power tests do not show significant decline with age, but tests which measure an undifferentiated mixture of speed and power, or tests which stress speed and minimize power show a more reliable tendency to decline with age. An obvious criticism, recognized by the author, is that the experimental groups used in this study are not representative of the general adult population. But the author has done a careful piece of research, and provides valuable data upon a timely subject. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)