Psychology of aging' Lecture 4: Information processing and attention'

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Psychology of aging.Lecture 4 Information
processing and attention.

• Prof Louise Phillips

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Information processing

• Computer models of cognition

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Information processing model
Long term memory
attention
External events
Sensory memory
Short term memory
Thinking
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Sensory memory

• Large amounts of info processed rapidly
• Up to 2 seconds
• Iconic and echoic memory.
• Not subject to attentional limitations
• Relatively little age difference in sensory memory

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Attentional functions

• Attention conscious awareness, accompanied by
  sensory clearness and readiness for response to
  stimuli.

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Important issues in attention.

• Cognitive capacity limited
• Cannot process everything in detail.
• Automatic processing minimal demands on attention
• E.g. walking
• Effortful processing high demands on attention
• E.g. exam
• Important to know whether tasks require a lot of
  effortful processing.
• Practice can influence this

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Selective attention

• Choose which information going to process
  further.

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Selective attention

• Essential to select information because
• Working memory capacity limited
• Bottlenecks in processing
• Environment usually contains more information
  than we want to attend to
• Must decide what is important

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Selective attention visual search
Is there a red x present?

• Older adults worse if
• More distracters
• Location of targets unpredictable

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Selective attention inhibition

• Older poorer at inhibition of irrelevant
  information
• So poorer focus on processing important aspects
  of the environment.

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Divided attention

• Competition between different sources of
  information.

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Divided attention

• Older adults report problems when have to divide
  attention
• If divided attention tasks are
• .automatic no age differences
• .effortful then older adults impaired
• Switching attention
• Old slower to switch attention
• May be related to aerobic fitness

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Sustained attention or vigilance

• Ability to maintain attention for long periods

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Vigilance (sustained attention)

• Age effects on target detection
• Old not as accurate at detecting targets
• Related to physical fitness
• Vigilance decrement
• Target detection deteriorates with time at the
  same rate old/young
• Older air traffic controllers
• In US must retire at 55.
• In UK tested for health vigilance over 50.

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Speed of processing

• Speed and efficiency of information processing

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Psychomotor speed reaction time (RT)

• Simple RT
• old slower

Choice RT larger age deficits
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Speed of processing

• As situations more complex
• larger age differences in RT
• decision time slowed more than move time.
• Longitudinal cross-sectional changes in RT
• Does slowed information processing explain age
  differences in memory and intelligence?

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What causes age-related slowing?

• Lower efficiency of neural transmission?
• Older brains need to recruit additional resources
  for processing?
• Focus on accuracy rather than speed?
• Lack of practice at relevant tasks?

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Can practice prevent slowing?

• Salthouse (1984) typist study
• Typists aged 19-72
• Showed usual age slowed RT
• But no age change in speed of typing.
• Compensation?

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Implications of attentional changes

• e.g. age and driving

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Age and driving

• Importance of cars to many older adults
• Independence and mobility
• Driving requires
• Good attention and vision, quick reactions.
• Age impairments in basic skills
• Older drivers can compensate
• Individual differences at all ages

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Aging and road traffic accidents

• Rotter McKnight (2002) The Mature DriverCrash
  Involvements by Gender and Age (1998 to 2000)

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Relative accident ratio (per mile travelled) for
males and females in different age groups.
Hakamies-Blomqvist, 1994
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Age and accidents

• Old tend to have fewer accidents
• BUT more accidents per mile driven
• Prediction of accident rates
• Basic visual acuity not predictive
• Visual attention is predictive
• Reasons for accidents
• Young alcohol, illness, handling errors
• Old attentional failures

Drivers dodderiness test.BBC Website, 25 March
2002.
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Conclusions

• Age declines in attention
• when effortful processing needed.
• Older adults have slower RTs
• especially on complex tasks.
• Older drivers
• have fewer accidents
• more accidents per mile driven.
• most accidents caused by attentional failures.

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Questions

• Outline the effects of aging on selective
  attention.
• Describe the effects of aging on attention with
  reference to the distinction between automatic
  and effortful processing.
• What factors might influence age-related slowing
  in cognitive tasks?
• Outline the effects of age on the likelihood and
  cause of road traffic accidents.