Age doesn’t matter much: hybrid visual and memory search is preserved in older adults

Wiegand, Iris; Wolfe, Jeremy M.

doi:10.1080/13825585.2019.1604941

Cited by 20 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 95 publications

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“…We recently examined age differences in hybrid search. While there was evidence of general age-related slowing, we demonstrated similar RT × set size functions for younger and older adults: The relative costs of adding distractors to the display and adding targets to the memory set were similar for both age groups (Wiegand & Wolfe, 2020 ), even up to high set sizes (64 items; Wiegand et al, 2019 ). This suggests no qualitative age differences in processing in the standard task version, where targets from the memory set appear in random order across trials.…”

Section: The Present Studysupporting

confidence: 55%

Order, please! Explicit sequence learning in hybrid search in younger and older age

2021

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Sequence learning effects in simple perceptual and motor tasks are largely unaffected by normal aging. However, less is known about sequence learning in more complex cognitive tasks that involve attention and memory processes and how this changes with age. In this study, we examined whether incidental and intentional sequence learning would facilitate hybrid visual and memory search in younger and older adults. Observers performed a hybrid search task, in which they memorized four or 16 target objects and searched for any of those target objects in displays with four or 16 objects. The memorized targets appeared either in a repeating sequential order or in random order. In the first experiment, observers were not told about the sequence before the experiment. Only a subset of younger adults and none of the older adults incidentally learned the sequence. The “learners” acquired explicit knowledge about the sequence and searched faster in the sequence compared to random condition. In the second experiment, observers were told about the sequence before the search task. Both younger and older adults searched faster in sequence blocks than random blocks. Older adults, however, showed this sequence-learning effect only in blocks with smaller target sets. Our findings indicate that explicit sequence knowledge can facilitate hybrid search, as it allows observers to predict the next target and restrict their visual and memory search. In older age, the sequence-learning effect is constrained by load, presumably due to age-related decline in executive functions.

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Section: The Present Studysupporting

confidence: 55%

Order, please! Explicit sequence learning in hybrid search in younger and older age

2021

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“…These results are consistent with recent studies highlighting an absence of qualitative visual search differences in older adults (Wiegand et al, 2019; Wiegand & Wolfe, 2020). Although Madden et al (2004) similarly concluded that top-down contributions to visual search were preserved as a function of age, their results actually showed an exacerbated effect of their manipulation of the predictive value of the singleton being the target for older adults.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…These authors replicated previous literature with younger adults that adding items to the search display (i.e., set-size) led to a linear increase in RT, whereas adding items to the memory set led to a logarithmic increase in RT. Wiegand and Wolfe (2020) observed this pattern in older adults as well. Across the three experiments, beyond a generalised slowing for older adults, there was no evidence of qualitative differences in search slopes for younger versus older adults (Wiegand & Wolfe, 2020).…”

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confidence: 57%

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The efficiency of visual search for a frequently changed target is preserved in older adults

Yabuki

Goodhew

2021

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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Visual search is a psychological function integral to most people’s daily lives. The extent to which visual search efficiency, and in particular the ability to use top-down attention in visual search, changes across the lifespan has been the focus of ongoing research. Here we sought to understand how the ability to frequently and dynamically change the target in a conjunction search task was affected by ageing. To do this, we compared visual search performance of a group of younger and older adults under conditions in which the target type was determined by a cue and could change on trial-to-trial basis (Intermixed), versus when the target type was fixed for a block of trials (Blocked). Although older adults were overall slower at the conjunction visual search task, and both groups were slower in the Intermixed compared with the Blocked Condition, older adults were not disproportionately affected by the Intermixed relative to the Blocked conditions. These results indicate that the ability to frequently change the target of visual search is preserved in older adults. This conclusion is consistent with an emerging consensus that many aspects of visual search and top-down contributions to it are preserved across the lifespan. It is also consistent with a growing body of work which challenges the neurocognitive theories of ageing that predict sweeping deficits in complex top-down components of cognition.

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“…Older adults are often slower and less accurate than are younger adults in performing visual-search tasks, suggesting an age-related decline in attentional functioning 9 , 10 . The slope of RT and display-size function is typically higher for older adults than for younger adults 11 , 12 . When the visual target is a featural singleton, however, older adults typically exhibit independence between RT and display size, indicating a highly efficient search despite slower overall RT 13 , 14 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Age-related changes in visual search: manipulation of colour cues based on cone contrast and opponent modulation space

Tamura

Sato

2020

Sci Rep

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Reduced retinal illuminance affects colour perception in older adults, and studies show that they exhibit deficiencies in yellow-blue (YB) discrimination. However, the influence of colour cues on the visual attention in older individuals remains unclarified. Visual attention refers to the cognitive model by which we prioritise regions within the visual space and selectively process information. The present study aimed to explore the effect of colour on visual search performance in older observers. In our experiment, younger observers wearing glasses with a filter that simulated the spectral transmittance of the aging human lens and older observers performed two types of search tasks, feature search (FS) and conjunction search (CS), under three colour conditions: red-green, YB, and luminance. Targets and distractors were designed on the basis of the Derrington–Krauskopf–Lennie colour representation. In FS tasks, reaction times changed according to colour in all groups, especially under the YB condition, regardless of the presence or absence of distractors. In CS tasks with distractors, older participants and younger participants wearing glasses showed slower responses under chromatic conditions than under the achromatic condition. These results provide preliminary evidence that, for older observers, visual search performance may be affected by impairments in chromatic colour discrimination.

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Age doesn’t matter much: hybrid visual and memory search is preserved in older adults

Cited by 20 publications

References 95 publications

Order, please! Explicit sequence learning in hybrid search in younger and older age

Order, please! Explicit sequence learning in hybrid search in younger and older age

The efficiency of visual search for a frequently changed target is preserved in older adults

Age-related changes in visual search: manipulation of colour cues based on cone contrast and opponent modulation space

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