Cognitive Development and the Ageing Process

In the World Library of Psychologists series, international experts present career-long collections of what they judge to be their most interesting publications – extracts from books, key articles, research findings, practical and theoretical contributions.

Professor Patrick Rabbitt has been a prominent contributor to knowledge of cognitive performance and cognitive ageing for over half a century. He has made a range of significant contributions to geronotological research, from the development of information processing theories in the 1950s and 1960s to a new understanding of decision making and the ageing process in subsequent decades.

This collection of his research articles represents a review of how work in cognitive performance and cognitive ageing has developed in the past 50 years. Whilst the nature of scientific research means that some of the questions posed have since been answered, Rabbitt adds introductory sections to articles which contextualise its place in the subject area and offer a personal view on the evolution of the field.

This book is important because it provides a perspective on the development of cognitive research and the ageing process through the work of an active researcher in the field. It will interest all students and researchers interested in cognitive development and gerontology.

Patrick Rabbitt was a member of scientific staff at the MRC Applied Psychology unit at the University of Cambridge, UK, from 1962 to 1967; worked for the University of Oxford, UK, as a lecturer in psychology (1968-1982); the University of Durham, UK, as Professor of Psychology and head of department (1982-1983); and the University of Manchester, UK, as the Research Chair in Gerontology and Cognitive Psychology and Director of the Age and Cognitive Performance Research Centre (1983-2004). He is currently Associated Researcher at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK.