A. T. Welford's research while affiliated with University of Adelaide and other places

Sketches the history of research on industrial gerontology in Britain from 1946 onward and views it in relation to gerontological research in other countries. The individual studies were closely integrated with fundamental gerontological research, and were both guided by and helped to formulate leading theoretical ideas. These are briefly discussed under 6 heads: the central locus of the most important age changes; the concept that signal-to-noise ratio in the brain is reduced in old age; the increasing failure by older people to transfer material from short-term to long-term storage and to recover it from long-term store; compensatory relationships between fall of ability to manipulate data in the abstract, and increase of knowledge; slowness as a major cause of accidents among older people; and methodological problems of interpreting industrial statistics regarding age. Future research needs are outlined. (66 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)