Working memory (WM) is a limited capacity cognitive system that temporarily holds information for processing. In the present study, we tested the effect of age, gender and cognitive reserve in terms of educational level, working and leisure time activities on an active visuospatial WM task. One-hundred thirty-four participants between 20 and 80 years old performed an n-back task with different degree of WM demanding. Reaction times (RTs) became slower and accuracy decreased with age; the former started to decline in participants that were 35 years old, the latter in participants that were 57 years old. Males were faster than females. Educational level (10 years in accuracy and 15 years in RTs) showed a positive effect on accuracy and RTs. Cognitive reserve had a positive effect on accuracy but no effect on RTs. In conclusion, age-related decline influenced earlier the speed and later the accuracy in a task that required active processes. While male was faster independently of WM demanding and age, middle school degree and an average cognitive reserve prevent errors during performance. Coherently, high school degree prevents slowing down but only in low demanding condition.

中文翻译：

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年龄，教育程度，性别和认知储备对成年后视空间工作记忆表现的影响。

工作记忆（WM）是容量有限的认知系统，可暂时保存要处理的信息。在本研究中，我们从教育水平，工作和休闲时间活动方面对活跃的视觉空间WM任务测试了年龄，性别和认知储备的影响。年龄在20至80岁之间的一百三十四名参与者执行了不同程度的WM要求的n后卫任务。随着年龄的增长，反应时间（RTs）变慢，准确性降低；前者在35岁的参与者中开始下降，而后者在57岁的参与者中开始下降。男性比女性快。受教育程度（准确度10年，即时技术15年）对准确度和即时技术产生积极影响。认知储备对准确性有积极影响，但对RTs没有影响。结论，与年龄有关的下降会影响需要主动流程的任务的速度，其后会影响其准确性。尽管男性不受WM要求和年龄的影响而更快，但中学学位和平均认知储备可防止表现期间出现错误。连贯地，高中学位可以防止学习速度下降，但只能在低要求的情况下进行。