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The Precipitous Decline in Reasoning and Other Key Abilities with Age and Its Implications for Federal Judges

U. S. Supreme Court justices and other federal judges are, effectively, appointed for life, with no built-in check on their cognitive functioning as they approach old age. There is about a century of research on aging and intelligence that shows the vulnerability of processing speed, fluid reasoning...

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Autor principal: Kaufman, Alan S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8628958/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34842740
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence9040052
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author Kaufman, Alan S.
author_facet Kaufman, Alan S.
author_sort Kaufman, Alan S.
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description U. S. Supreme Court justices and other federal judges are, effectively, appointed for life, with no built-in check on their cognitive functioning as they approach old age. There is about a century of research on aging and intelligence that shows the vulnerability of processing speed, fluid reasoning, visual-spatial processing, and working memory to normal aging for men and women at all levels of education; even the maintained ability of crystallized knowledge declines in old age. The vulnerable abilities impact a person’s decision-making and problem solving; crystallized knowledge, by contrast, measures a person’s general knowledge. The aging-IQ data provide a rationale for assessing the key cognitive abilities of anyone who is appointed to the federal judiciary. Theories of multiple cognitive abilities and processes, most notably the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) model, provide a well-researched blueprint for interpreting the plethora of findings from studies of IQ and aging. Sophisticated technical advances in test construction, especially in item-response theory and computerized-adaptive testing, allow for the development of reliable and valid theory-based tests of cognitive functioning. Such assessments promise to be a potentially useful tool for evaluating federal judges to assess the impact of aging on their ability to perform at a level their positions deserve, perhaps to measure their competency to serve the public intelligently. It is proposed that public funding be made available to appoint a panel of experts to develop and validate an array of computerized cognitive tests to identify those justices who are at risk of cognitive impairment.
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spelling pubmed-86289582021-11-30 The Precipitous Decline in Reasoning and Other Key Abilities with Age and Its Implications for Federal Judges Kaufman, Alan S. J Intell Article U. S. Supreme Court justices and other federal judges are, effectively, appointed for life, with no built-in check on their cognitive functioning as they approach old age. There is about a century of research on aging and intelligence that shows the vulnerability of processing speed, fluid reasoning, visual-spatial processing, and working memory to normal aging for men and women at all levels of education; even the maintained ability of crystallized knowledge declines in old age. The vulnerable abilities impact a person’s decision-making and problem solving; crystallized knowledge, by contrast, measures a person’s general knowledge. The aging-IQ data provide a rationale for assessing the key cognitive abilities of anyone who is appointed to the federal judiciary. Theories of multiple cognitive abilities and processes, most notably the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) model, provide a well-researched blueprint for interpreting the plethora of findings from studies of IQ and aging. Sophisticated technical advances in test construction, especially in item-response theory and computerized-adaptive testing, allow for the development of reliable and valid theory-based tests of cognitive functioning. Such assessments promise to be a potentially useful tool for evaluating federal judges to assess the impact of aging on their ability to perform at a level their positions deserve, perhaps to measure their competency to serve the public intelligently. It is proposed that public funding be made available to appoint a panel of experts to develop and validate an array of computerized cognitive tests to identify those justices who are at risk of cognitive impairment. MDPI 2021-10-25 /pmc/articles/PMC8628958/ /pubmed/34842740 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence9040052 Text en © 2021 by the author. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kaufman, Alan S.
The Precipitous Decline in Reasoning and Other Key Abilities with Age and Its Implications for Federal Judges
title The Precipitous Decline in Reasoning and Other Key Abilities with Age and Its Implications for Federal Judges
title_full The Precipitous Decline in Reasoning and Other Key Abilities with Age and Its Implications for Federal Judges
title_fullStr The Precipitous Decline in Reasoning and Other Key Abilities with Age and Its Implications for Federal Judges
title_full_unstemmed The Precipitous Decline in Reasoning and Other Key Abilities with Age and Its Implications for Federal Judges
title_short The Precipitous Decline in Reasoning and Other Key Abilities with Age and Its Implications for Federal Judges
title_sort precipitous decline in reasoning and other key abilities with age and its implications for federal judges
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8628958/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34842740
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence9040052
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