Reasoning decline during aging under familiar and unfamiliar physics.

ABSTRACT: Physical reasoning is the capacity to anticipate how an environment will change as its elements move and interact. This cognitive skill, which is based on humans' intuitive knowledge of physics, underlies everyday tasks that are potentially critical to older adults, such as avoiding collisions. Nevertheless, the effects of aging on physical reasoning remain understudied. Here, we tested physical reasoning among younger (18-35 years) and older (over 65 years) adults as they completed different difficulty levels of a physical reasoning paradigm. Participants viewed object displacements in a virtual environment and had to decide the outcome of that displacement under different gravity forces (terrestrial gravity, half, and double terrestrial gravity). We also tested distinct physical action c

SUBMITTER: Dexter M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12748166 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature