Department of Psychology, New York University, 4 Washington Place, Room 410, New York, NY 10003, USA.
Exp Brain Res. 2013 Jul;228(2):183-92. doi: 10.1007/s00221-013-3550-0. Epub 2013 May 10.
The current study investigated whether younger (college-age) and older adults (60+ years) differ in their ability to perceive safe and unsafe motor actions. Participants decided whether to walk through openings varying in width in two penalty conditions: In the doorway condition, if participants attempted to squeeze through impossibly narrow openings, the penalty for error was entrapment. In the ledge condition, if participants attempted to inch along impossibly narrow ledges, the penalty for error was falling. Results showed that across the lifespan, people consider falling to be a more severe penalty than getting stuck: Both younger and older adults made more conservative decisions when the penalty for error was falling, and older women were especially leery of falling. In both age groups, abilities and decisions were based on dynamic properties of the body, such as compressed body size in the doorway condition and balance in the ledge condition. Findings indicate that failure to perceive possibilities for action is unlikely to be the cause of the increased prevalence of falling in older adults.
当前的研究调查了年轻人（大学年龄）和老年人（60 岁以上）在感知安全和不安全的运动动作方面是否存在差异。参与者在两种惩罚条件下决定是否穿过宽度不同的开口：在门道条件下，如果参与者试图挤过不可能狭窄的开口，则错误的惩罚是被困。在壁架条件下，如果参与者试图沿着不可能狭窄的壁架一点一点地走，错误的惩罚是坠落。结果表明，在整个生命周期中，人们认为坠落比被困更严重：年轻人和老年人在错误的惩罚是坠落时做出更保守的决策，而老年女性尤其害怕坠落。在两个年龄组中，能力和决策都是基于身体的动态特性，例如在门道条件下压缩的身体大小和在壁架条件下的平衡。研究结果表明，未能感知到行动的可能性不太可能是老年人跌倒发生率增加的原因。
