Plasticity and Enhancement of Intellectual Functioning in Old Age

Abstract

The Penn State Adult Development and Enrichment Project, with the acronym ADEPT, is a basic research program aimed at examining the modifiability of intellectual functioning in later adulthood and old age. Intelligence as referred to in ADEPT research indicates performance on psychometric tests of intelligence rather than process-oriented indices of cognitive functioning. The ADEPT domain of psychometric intelligence is defined primarily by the theory of fluid-crystallized intelligence. Later adulthood and old age covers the age range from approximately 60 to 80 years of age.