1. in psychological testing, allowing a participant to proceed beyond time limits (or waiving other standardized requirements) to see if he or she can complete an item or do better under alternate conditions. 2. attempts by an individual to see how far he or she can test rules before the rules are enforced. An example would be seeing how much talking one can get away with in a class before being reprimanded by the teacher. 3. a method used to study adult age differences in cognition in which research participants are required to perform a task to the best of their ability and are then tested after extensive practice on the task. See also reserve capacity. [developed by Paul B. Baltes and his associates]