Allocation of Visual Attention in Younger and Older Adults

Authors

Alan Hartley, Scripps CollegeFollow
James Kieley '92, Pitzer College
Craig R.M. McKenzie, University of Chicago

Student Co-author

Pitzer Undergraduate

Document Type

Article

Department

Psychology (Scripps)

Publication Date

1992

Disciplines

Cognitive Psychology | Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

Younger and older adults were compared in three experiments, using procedures that had been shown to affect the spread of visual attention. The attentional effects found in previous experiments were replicated. A broader focus of attention speeded responses to peripheral targets. In addition, two established findings concerning aging were replicated: Responses were slower in older than in younger adults, and, in certain conditions, they slowed more rapidly as target eccentricity increased. No interactions of age effects with attentional manipulations were found. The results of all three experiments were consistent with the interpretation that younger and older adults do not differ in the allocation of attention.

Rights Information

© 1992 Springer-Verlag

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

DOI

10.3758/BF03206771

Recommended Citation

Hartley, A. A., Kieley, J., & McKenzie, C. R. M. (1992). Allocation of attention in younger and older adults. Perception & Psychophysics, 52, 175-185. doi: 10.3758/BF03206771