As the prevalence of computer-based technologies increases throughout society, so does the likelihood that older adults will be required to interact with them. Unfortunately, such systems often appear to older adults to be too hard to use and too hard to learn. We provide examples highlighting the opportunities available to behavioural science to affect training and system design through practically relevant research. We focus on our research on ageing, computer use, and training to support our assertion that applied research aimed at designing training materials and system interfaces to enhance the performance of older adults can and should be driven by psychological theory. The data presented and studies reviewed here clearly demonstrate that theory is critical for predicting age differences in computer use, for guiding the development of both training and design interventions for older computer users, and for reconciling conflicting findings in the design-evaluation literature.

Older and young adults practiced a verbal/spatial dual task and were tested for retention performance 1 month later. Participants first practiced each component task separately to individually determine component processing time. Thus, age-related differences in single-task detection sensitivity were minimized prior to performing the dual task. Participants practiced the dual task for two 1.5-hour sessions. Following the retention interval, they were retested on the single-task components and on the dual task. Correct detection as well as signal detection parameters were examined. Older adults demonstrated decreased sensitivity as well as a more conservative response bias during acquisition. Retention performance for the single tasks replicated previous retention studies, demonstrating age-related performance declines when stimulus-specific learning is assessed. Dual-task retention capability declined for both older and young adults equally when detection accuracy, but not perceptual sensitivity, was measured. Response bias changed differentially for older and young adults across the retention interval.

A Web-based medication screening tool that provides researchers with information about side effects associated with medications commonly used by older participants is described. This tool can be used for research purposes to better separate the effects of normal, healthy aging processes from the deleterious effects often associated with medication usage. Researchers can use this tool, called SMART (Screening Medications: Aging Research Taxonomy), to (a) obtain information pertaining to the cognitive, sensory, and motor side effects associated with specific medications and (b) screen medications in their research for side effect severity. The Web address for the tool is www.psychology.gatech.edu/SMART Understanding the medication usage patterns in research samples could help researchers distinguish between cognitive declines associated with normal, healthy aging and cognitive impairments associated with chronic or acute medication toxicity (Marr, 1997). The prevalent use of medications that could negatively affect performance among older adult participants is not often taken into consideration by researchers. In a review of published cognitiveaging studies in this journal (Psychology and Aging, 1995-2000, Vols. 10 -15, Nos. 1 and 2), we found that only 14% of the studies published during this time period (43 out of 302 total articles) documented using some type of medication screening. This finding suggests that researchers of cognitive aging may not have available a tool to estimate (and screen for) the degree to which older adults' task performance could be affected by medication usage.In this article, we provide a description of a medication screening tool called SMART (Screening Medications: Aging Research Taxonomy) that is both easily accessed and easy to use. SMART can be used by researchers to determine (a) the specific aspects of performance that may be affected by medication usage; (b) the incidence of occurrence of deleterious side effects; and (c) whether older adults are especially at risk for cognitive, sensory, or motor impairment when using specific medications.

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