Can practice overcome age-related differences in the psychological refractory period effect?
Can dual-task practice remove age-related differences in the psychological refractory period (PRP) effect? To answer this question, younger and older individuals practiced 7 blocks of a PRP design, in which Task 1 (T1) required a vocal response to an auditory stimulus and Task 2 (T2) required a manual response to a visual stimulus (Experiment 1). The results showed that practice did not reduce, but rather increased, age-related differences in PRP interference. Using the trained individuals, the introduction of a less complex new T1 (Experiment 2) or a less complex new T2 (Experiment 3) with the task previously practiced reduced the PRP interference but only in older adults. The authors propose that older adults suffer from a large task-switch cost that is more sensitive to task complexity than to the amount of practice.
Maquestiaux
François
F
UFR STAPS de l'Université Paris-Sud, Paris, France. francois.maquestiaux@wanadoo.fr
Hartley
Alan A
AA
Bertsch
Jean
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D005793:Generalization, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D005082:Physical Exertion; D010897:Pitch Discrimination; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D012033:Refractory Period, Psychological; D014163:Transfer, Psychology; D014705:Verbal Behavior