title: Boundary Extension Is Sensitive to Hand Position in Young and Older Adults.
abstract: Based on preliminary reports, we expected an age-related increase in boundary extension (BE), a phenomenon in which people falsely remember seeing more of a scene than was presented. Given recent data suggesting hand-centered attentional frames in young adults contrasted with body-centered attentional frames in older adults, we predicted hand-position effects on BE in young adults only.
  
  
  
  Participants (59 young, 60 older adults) viewed photographs of complex scenes (e.g., a market) and answered yes/no questions about each. Half answered with key presses while their hands were framing the computer monitor; half while their hands were on a lapdesk. At test, participants indicated whether photographs were the same as, or at a closer or wider angle than at study.
  
  
  
  Both age groups demonstrated BE. When study-test angles were the same, participants rated test pictures as closer than at study. When study-test angles differed, older adults showed less BE than young adults. For both same- and different-angle conditions, there was a main effect of hand position (less BE when hands framed the monitor than when on participants' laps).
  
  
  
  The data confirm older adults show BE but show no age-related increase. Surprisingly, both young and older adults showed hand-centered attention.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Davidson College, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Kristi S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Multhaup
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Davidson College, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Margaret P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Munger
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Davidson College, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Kendra C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D011187:Posture; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult