Arithmetic and aging: Impact of quantitative knowledge and processing speed

Abstract The main objective of this study was to examine how quantitative knowledge ( Gq in the CHC model) and processing speed ( Gs in the CHC model) affect scores on the WAIS-III Arithmetic Subtest (Wechsler, 2000) with aging. Two age groups were compared: 30 young adults and 25 elderly adults. For both age groups, Gq was an important predictor of Arithmetic score variance ( R²  = 48% and R²  = 45%, respectively). However, in line with Salthouse, the results showed that processing speed predicted Arithmetic scores only for the older adults, not for the younger ones (additional 9% of the variance for the elderly vs. 1% of the variance for the young adults). These results can clarify the ambiguous evolution of Arithmetic scores with aging: Arithmetic performance with aging seems to follow an intermediate path between Gc and Gf . This suggests that both Gq and Gs have an impact on Arithmetic in aging.