When relevant knowledge can be drawn upon, age trends in performance can reverse, with older adults outperforming younger adults on crossword puzzles¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · reviewr2·q2
Currency · newest study 2012 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
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This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? In the same individuals, analytical reasoning showed monotonic age decline while crossword puzzle performance among frequent solvers was better at older ages. → Salthouse 2012
Evidence¶
Salthouse 2012¶
Salthouse, T. (2012). Consequences of Age-Related Cognitive Declines. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 201-226. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100328
q2 · i? · review · r2
Review presenting a contrast of age trends in analytical reasoning versus crossword puzzle performance (Figure 4). The review reports that with relevant knowledge, "the age trends among people with frequent crossword puzzle– solving experiences are actually reversed", supporting a knowledge-compensation account.
"when knowledge is relevant to the task, as in crossword puzzles, the age trends among people with frequent crossword puzzle– solving experiences are actually reversed, with better performance at older ages!"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Cross-sectional age relations show monotonic decline in fluid cognition (age-reasoning correlation about −0.40) but stability followed by decline for acquired knowledge — related
- Letter fluency shows no age-group difference in ANOVA, but older adults outperform young adults once processing speed and IQ are controlled — related
- Bottom-quartile SES students show greater progress than top-quartile students when young, but the pattern reverses at older ages — related
- Younger adults outperform older adults in concept-map performance, and older adults show no concept-map improvement — reports the opposite
- Curve estimation shows linear decline in processing speed after age 30, quadratic trajectories for category fluency and IQ, and no age change in letter fluency — related
- Learning ability does not decline with age in healthy older adults — related
- Instruction based on cognitive load theory can compensate for age-related cognitive declines — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
knowledge-relevance-reverses-age-trends |
title |
When relevant knowledge can be drawn upon, age trends in performance can reverse, with older adults outperforming younger adults on crossword puzzles |
description |
When relevant knowledge can be drawn upon, age trends in performance can reverse, with older adults outperforming younger adults on crossword puzzles |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
weak |
newest_evidence |
2012 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-17 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — salthouse-2012 |
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