96 Designing training and instructional programs for older adults
cognitive functioning as well. In fact, high stress levels have been found
to impair cognitive ability and performance on various types of cogni-
tive tasks, including those involving memory and attention. A possible
explanation for this effect is that high stress levels result in a less effective
allocation of cognitive resources to cognitive tasks.
If this is the case, then older adults may be more vulnerable to high
stress levels than younger adults due to declines in processing speed and
more limited available cognitive resources to perform a complex task.
There is also a classic work which demonstrated that older adults can
become more aroused, with regard ...