title: Aging and comparative search for feature differences.
abstract: In a comparative visual search experiment, two halves of a display contained visual primitives of various shapes and colors. These halves were identical (50% of trials) or contained a non-matching pair (50% of trials). Response time (RT), accuracy, and eye movements were measured in both young and older adults. There were Age Group x Display Size interactions found for RT, with older adult RT affected more than younger adult RT by increases in display size. This interaction was consistent with predictions generated by sequential-sampling models for RT. There were age group main effects on fixation number and fixation duration, but no age group main effects on accuracy, saccade amplitude, or measures of scan-path efficiency; this indicated that search strategies were similar across age groups. Overall, the results showed no special age group deficits for comparative visual search.
authors.affiliation: University of Kentucky, Lexington, USA. gottlob@uky.edu
authors.forename: Lawrence R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Gottlob
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005364:Field Dependence-Independence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology