Golden retrievers: Older adults solve single-digit arithmetic via fact retrieval.

Abstract

Arithmetic skills are crucial for mastering everyday life up to old age. However, it is unknown whether the interplay of different task characteristics affects arithmetic performance differently in older and younger adults. The aim of this study was to investigate whether older adults show deficits in arithmetic fact retrieval besides general slowing. Older (≥ 60 years) and younger adults (18 – 34 years) solved single-digit arithmetic problems in a verbal production paradigm. Arithmetic performance and strategy use were assessed for all four basic arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division), varying in problem size (small vs. large). Older adults were slower than younger adults in all operations except multiplication. Older adults were able to preserve a similar problem size effect, as they used fast retrieval strategies more often than younger adults to solve large single-digit problems (except for division). While older adults can retrieve arithmetic facts equally well as younger adults, they are slower when using procedural strategies. Overall, this study suggests that older adults do not show deficits in arithmetic fact retrieval but their arithmetic fact knowledge is even superior to that of younger adults and therefore can compensate for some of the age-related domain-general cognitive deficits.