Haptic exploration in young, middle-aged, and elderly adults.
Matching accuracy and strategy utilization in young, middle-aged, and elderly adults was examined in a series of intramodal, haptic match-to-standard problems. Subjects were presented with 2-, 3-, and 4-comparison stimulus arrays and asked to locate by touch alone the comparison stimulus that exactly matched the standard. Results indicated that elderly adults, in comparison to young and middle-aged adults, were less successful in solving the haptic problems. Furthermore, they also displayed less systematic and logical haptic search strategies. Discussion of the results focused on the competence-performance distinction and the relation of selectivity and performance during the aging process.
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D003071:Cognition; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014110:Touch