For a variety of reasons, there has been an explosion of interest in
research on aging over the past few years. The reasons include an
awareness that a large and growing proportion of our popUlation is over
65 and that research findings can contribute to their health,
satisfaction, and efficiency as members of society; the fact that
funding agencies have endorsed the need for more research effort in the
area by setting up special programs; and also the fact that researchers
themselves are turning more to practical problems as many theoretical
issues (in experimen- tal psychology at least) seem to remain as
intractable as ever. Thus, at present there is widespread interest in
aging, but there is also a lack of knowledge as to what has already been
accomplished in the area, what the theoretical issues are, and what
factors contribute to the methodological and practical difficulties. The
time is propitious for meetings of experts in various aspects of the
aging process, both to discuss among themselves latest advances in the
field and also to inte- grate known information for researchers and
practitioners. In the summer of 1980 we organized such a meeting as the
10th annual psychology symposium to be held at the Erindale Campus of
the University of Toronto. The topic chosen was Aging and Cognitive
Processes, and the edited contributions to the symposium form the
chapters of the present book.