TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2002//
TI  - Perceptual processing and search efficiency of young and older adults in a simple-feature search task: A staircase approach
JO  - Journals of gerontology. Series B: psychological sciences and social sciences
A1  - Davis, Elizabeth Thorpe
A1  - Fujawa, Greg
A1  - Shikano, Terry
SP  - 324
EP  - 337
VL  - 57
IS  - 4
N2  - The reasons that visual search may sometimes be difficult, especially for older adults, remain important research issues. This study investigated (a) whether age-related differences can occur in simple-feature search, (b) if so, whether slowing adequately accounts for these differences, (c) whether other perceptual/cognitive factors are involved, and (d) the role of perceptual strategies. The authors tested 15 young adults (ages 18-30) and 15 older adults (ages 65-78). The target was a red disc presented among red diamonds in an array of 16 or 36 items. The forced-choice staircase procedure emphasized perceptual processing while deemphasizing decision-making and psychomotor processing. Although perceptual slowing may affect older adults' search performance, the perceptual slowing model is not simple, and other perceptual/cognitive factors, such as spatial resolution and distractibility, also are implicated. Moreover, perceptual strategies involving perceptual grouping or suppression of distractors play a key role in explaining why search efficiency is actually better for the larger set size.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1079-5014
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -