title: Time course of allocation of visual attention after equating for sensory differences: an age-related perspective.
abstract: Adult age differences in the time course of the allocation of visual attention were investigated, in 2 experiments that both included the same 10 younger adults (M = 22 years) and 10 older adults (M = 68 years). In Experiment 1, older adults accumulated information about target identity at a slower rate than younger adults, as represented by the rise in accuracy as a function of target duration. To equate performance in a baseline condition in a spatial-cuing paradigm (Experiment 2), target duration was set for each observer on the basis of the data in Experiment 1. Performance for the 2 age groups was comparable, both in the baseline condition and in the time course of attention, as indexed by the function relating accuracy to cue-target onset asynchrony. The authors conclude that, in this spatial-cuing paradigm, an age-related change is evident in sensory processing but not in attentional allocation.
authors.affiliation: Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA. lrg@geri.duke.edu
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Gottlob
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Madden
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D003463:Cues; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception