The effects of age, sex, and curriculum upon the cognitive performance of 20 college students and 20 college-educated elderly individuals were examined. Young adult participants (M=20.55) and elderly participants (M=67.85) were given a battery of formal operational tasks, a measure of field independence/field dependence, a short-term memory measure, and a measure of tolerance of ambiguity. Results of analyses of variance and covariance indicated a lack of significant age differences on any of the measures of formal reasoning. However, gender and curriculum were significant predictors of cognitive performance for both cohort groups. These results suggest that within the sample, formal operational thought abilities are present. Perhaps the present study will call additional attention to the impact of life experience (i.e., curriculum specialization and lifelong learning), years of education, and gender on the development of formal operational thought in the adult and aging years. (Author/PN)