Categorization Behavior in Aging Subjects1

were found in the analysis of variance for four of six measures; there were no significant sex or in-teraction effects. Strong quadratic trends were found for number of ungrouped objects, % relational-thematic responses, and °7b categorical-inferential responses; oldest groups ' responses were similar to children's. A linear trend was found for number of groups. There was no significant age effect for category breadth. Use of descriptive-analytic categories by the elderiy was negligible compared to younger subjects. AN aspect of intellectual function-ing to which relatively little attention has been paid in the study of aging is the in-dividual's categorizing (or classification) behavior. The process of the recognition of similarities, and the grouping of objects, organisms, and sensations into sets based on such similarities, is a process which is basic to most other cognitive functioning. According to Bruner (1966), categorization skills are funda-mental to the organization of experience, con-cept formation, problem solving, organization of information for retention, and so on. For Piaget also, categorization occupies a fun-damental position in the cognitive structure. There are three dimensions along which cate-gorization skills can be perceived. The first, ac-curacy, refers to the individual's ability to cate-gorize without error according to an accepted or given classification system. The second, complexity, refers to the level of complexity that the individual is capable of using in form-ing categories (abstractness, multiple classifica-tion, hierarchical classification, flexibility o