Lost ability to automatize task performance in old age

Maquestiaux, François; Didierjean, André; Ruthruff, Eric; Chauvel, Guillaume; Hartley, Alan A.

doi:10.3758/s13423-013-0438-8

Cited by 24 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Some situations in which one or the other or both of the tasks are simple and very extensively practiced show indications in younger adults that the bottleneck can be completely bypassed (Maquestiaux et al, 2008;Ruthruff et al, 2006). Older adults failed to show these indications even after very extensive training (Maquestiaux, Laguë-Beauvais, Ruthruff, Hartley, & Bherer, 2010;Maquestiaux, Didierjean, Ruthruff, Chauvel, & Hartley, 2013). Older adults do show evidence of partial bypass when Task 2 stimuli and responses are ideomotor compatible (Hartley et al, 2015) or very strongly associated (Experiment 2, possibly), and the magnitude of the effect is the same as in younger adults (Hartley et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Backward compatibility effects in younger and older adults

Hartley

Maquestiaux

Festini

et al. 2016

Atten Percept Psychophys

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In many dual-task situations, responses to the second of two tasks are slowed when the time between tasks is short. The response-selection bottleneck model of dual-task performance accounts for this phenomenon by assuming that central processing of the second task is blocked by a bottleneck until central processing of Task 1 is complete. This assumption could be called into question if it could be demonstrated that the response to Task 2 affected the central processing of Task 1, a backward response compatibility effect. Such effects are well-established in younger adults. Backward compatibility effects in older (as well as younger) adults were explored in two experiments. The first experiment found clear backward response compatibility effects for younger adults but no evidence of them for older adults. The second experiment explored backward stimulus compatibility and found similar effects in both younger and older adults. Evidence possibly consistent with some pre-bottleneck processing of Task 2 central stages also was found in the second experiment in both age groups. For younger adults, the results provide further evidence falsifying the claim of an immutable response selection bottleneck. For older adults, the evidence suggested that Task 2 affects Task 1 when there is stimulus compatibility but not when there is response compatibility. Under most circumstances, people cannot perform two tasks at exactly the same time without interference, even when both tasks are very simple. As the temporal overlap between the two tasks increases, the time to perform the second task increases monotonically. Conversely, in many situations for each additional millisecond that the stimulus of the second task is delayed after the onset of the stimulus of the first task (the stimulus onset asynchrony or SOA), the reaction time (RT) to the second task drops by 1 ms. By contrast, the RT to the first task is largely unaffected by SOA. The slowing of the second task at short SOAs often is called the psychological refractory period (PRP) effect by analogy with the time after firing when a neuron is unresponsive to further input (Telford, 1931;Vince, 1948;Welford, 1952). The PRP effect has been replicated in a large number of experiments, thus deserving the status of one of the few laws of contemporary cognitive psychology. Pashler (1994Pashler ( , 1998 provides reviews and overviews of the research and theory (also see Spence, 2008;Tombu & Jolicoeur, 2005).The most successful account of the PRP effect is the response-selection bottleneck (RSB) model, the principal tenet of which is that central processing can be performed for one and only one task at any particular time. Central processing of one of the tasks must be delayed until central processing of the other task is complete. This leads to the prediction that each millisecond by which the arrival of the second task is delayed will be 1 ms that it will not have to wait for the central processing mechanism to become free. Central processing involves processes of mapping...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Backward compatibility effects in younger and older adults

Hartley

Maquestiaux

Festini

et al. 2016

Atten Percept Psychophys

Self Cite

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show abstract

“…Relatedly, studies in the wider literature on aging and dual tasking using the psychological refractory period (PRP) effect have found that, while older adults still exhibit a dual task cost following substantial training (Maquestiaux, Didierjean, Ruthruff, Chauvel, & Hartley, 2013), there are certain task responses that may remain almost entirely automatic with age. These largely involve well-learned responses such as word recognition (Lien et al, 2006) and ideomotor responses (where the sensory feedback produced by the response is related to the stimulus, Hartley, Seaman, & Maquestiaux, 2015).…”

Section: Limitations and Prospects For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adult age differences in the effects of processing on storage in working memory: A meta-analysis.

Jaroslawska¹,

Rhodes²

2019

Psychology and Aging

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Normal adult aging is known to be associated with lower performance on tasks assessing the short-term storage of information. However, whether or not there are additional age-related deficits associated with concurrent storage and processing demands within working memory remains unclear. Methodological differences across studies are considered critical factors responsible for the variability in the magnitude of the reported age effects. Here we synthesized comparisons of younger and older adults' performance on tasks measuring storage alone against those combining storage with concurrent processing of information. We also considered the influence of task-related moderator variables. Meta-analysis of effect sizes revealed a small but disproportionate effect of processing on older adults' memory performance. Moderator analysis indicated that equating single task storage performance across age groups (titration) and the nature of the stimulus material were important determinants of memory accuracy. Titration of storage task difficulty was found to lead to smaller, and non-significant, age-differences in dual task costs. These results were corroborated by supplementary Brinley and state-trace analyses. We discuss these findings in relation to the extant literature and current working memory theory as well as possibilities for future research to address the residual heterogeneity in effect sizes. (194 words)

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“…As a consequence, practice-related task automatization is a promising mechanism to explain the elimination of dual-task interference with practice. A series of studies (e.g., Maquestiaux, Didierjean, Ruthruff, Chauvel, & Hartley, 2013; Maquestiaux, Laguë-Beauvais, Ruthruff, & Bherer, 2008; Maquestiaux, Laguë-Beauvais, Ruthruff, Hartley, & Bherer, 2010; Ruthruff et al, 2006) tested the ability of task automatization by providing extensive single-task practice with an auditory-verbal task (e.g., low and high pitched tones were mapped on verbal low and high responses, respectively) in single-task trials across multiple practice sessions. In a following test session, the practiced auditory-verbal task was combined with a new visual-manual task (e.g., the digits 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 or the letters A , B , C , D were mapped on manual finger responses) in a PRP dual-task situation.…”

Section: Mechanisms Of Practice-related Optimization Of Dual-task Permentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanisms of Practice-Related Reductions of Dual-Task Interference with Simple Tasks: Data and Theory

Strobach

Schubert

2017

ACP

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In dual-task situations, interference between two simultaneous tasks impairs performance. With practice, however, this impairment can be reduced. To identify mechanisms leading to a practice-related improvement in sensorimotor dual tasks, the present review applied the following general hypothesis: Sources that impair dual-task performance at the beginning of practice are associated with mechanisms for the reduction of dual-task impairment at the end of practice. The following types of processes provide sources for the occurrence of this impairment: (a) capacity-limited processes within the component tasks, such as response-selection or motor response stages, and (b) cognitive control processes independent of these tasks and thus operating outside of component-task performance. Dual-task practice studies show that, under very specific conditions, capacity-limited processes within the component tasks are automatized with practice, reducing the interference between two simultaneous tasks. Further, there is evidence that response-selection stages are shortened with practice. Thus, capacity limitations at these stages are sources for dual-task costs at the beginning of practice and are overcome with practice. However, there is no evidence demonstrating the existence of practice-related mechanisms associated with capacity-limited motor-response stages. Further, during practice, there is an acquisition of executive control skills for an improved allocation of limited attention resources to two tasks as well as some evidence supporting the assumption of improved task coordination. These latter mechanisms are associated with sources of dual-task interference operating outside of component task performance at the beginning of practice and also contribute to the reduction of dual-task interference at its end.

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Lost ability to automatize task performance in old age

Cited by 24 publications

References 12 publications

Backward compatibility effects in younger and older adults

Backward compatibility effects in younger and older adults

Adult age differences in the effects of processing on storage in working memory: A meta-analysis.

Mechanisms of Practice-Related Reductions of Dual-Task Interference with Simple Tasks: Data and Theory

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