The production of task-unrelated (TUITs) and task-specific (TST) images and thoughts during vigilance, a shallow information processing task, and during reading, a semantic task requiring deep processing, was examined in thirty-nine 17- to 75-year-old men and women. High positive correlations resulted ( p < .01) between the vigilance and the reading tasks on the likelihood of having both deliberate and unintentional TUITs. However, relatively low between-task correlations resulted for TST frequency. The results indicate that low and high TUIT frequency individuals in the reading task will also have, respectively, low and high TUIT frequencies in the vigilance task. Thus, support for the notion of stable individual differences in TUIT production is indicated. No between-task consistency was evident for TST frequency. TST production may be more directly influenced by the immediate task, as opposed to an individual cognitive capacity for processing information.

Dream recall was measured retrospectively with the Night Dreaming Scale of the Imaginal Processes Inventory. Evidence supports a high degree of correspondence among methods which assess dreaming frequency. A cross-sectional sample (17-92 years old, n = 2328) found fewer dreams recalled with increasing age. Women recalled more dreams and showed a less rapid decrease in frequency than men. Longitudinal changes (n = 333) over 6 to 8 years were not wholly consistent with cross-sectional age differences. We found many fewer recalled dreams in senescence. However, the reduction in recalled dreams began well before senescence. Explanations based on dream saliency, long-and short-term memory failure, levels of REM sleep, and degree of spontaneous information processing were considered.

Giambra (1977-1978, 1979-1980) found that 2 scales of the Imaginal Processes Inventory measuring curiosity (i.e., information seeking) did not change across the adult life span, but 2 measuring stimulation seeking (i.e., boredom) for external stimulation need significantly decreased with age. In this study, these outcomes were replicated (1,356 men and 1,080 women 17 to 92 years old). In addition, a 6- to 8-year longitudinal repeat was obtained on 222 men and 124 women. Significant longitudinal declines were obtained for the stimulation-seeking measures. Furthermore, women showed an increase in impersonal-mechanical curiosity and a decline in interpersonal curiosity, though the amount of change was modest. Men were unchanged on both curiosity measures. Gender differences in longitudinal changes apparently reflected effects of socialization as well as tendencies toward displaying increased androgyny with advancing age.

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The association among sexual daydreaming and sexual attitudes and activity was examined in a cross-sectional life-span sample of women (N = 117, 26 to 78 years). Sexual daydreaming was measured using the Imaginal Processes Inventory (IPI) while sexual history measures of sexual activity, sexual drive, and sexual attitudes were derived from a comprehensive personal interview. A factor analysis and varimax rotation of the sexual history variables, age, and the Sexual Daydream Scale of the IPI revealed three primary factors representing dimensions of sexual activity and drive, attitudes toward sexual activity, and sexual satisfaction. Age was associated with less sexual daydreaming, less sexual drive, less sexual activity, and more negative sexual attitudes. Sexual daydreaming varied directly with sexual drive and sexual activity and with a positive sexual attitude.