Parasuraman R, Nestor P, Greenwood P
Department of Psychology, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC 20064.
Psychol Aging. 1989 Sep;4(3):339-45. doi: 10.1037//0882-7974.4.3.339.
The sustained-attention capacity of young (21-29 years) and older (65-78 years) adults was examined using a high-event rate digit-discrimination vigilance task presented at three levels of stimulus degradation. Increased stimulus degradation led to a reduction in the hit rate and to a greater decline in hit rate over blocks (increased vigilance decrement). Sensitivity (d') declined over blocks only at the highest level of stimulus degradation. Older adults had a lower hit rate and showed greater vigilance decrement than young adults, particularly when stimuli were highly degraded. However, both age groups showed the same pattern of stability in sensitivity when stimulus degradation was moderate, and sensitivity decrement over time when stimulus degradation was high. The results suggest that the process of sustained allocation of capacity--as reflected in temporal changes in sensitivity--operates similarly in young and older adults.
使用一项高事件率数字辨别警觉任务，在三种刺激退化水平下，对年轻成年人（21 - 29岁）和年长成年人（65 - 78岁）的持续注意力能力进行了检查。刺激退化程度增加导致命中率降低，且在各试验组中命中率下降幅度更大（警觉性下降增加）。仅在最高刺激退化水平下，敏感性（d'）在各试验组中有所下降。年长成年人的命中率较低，且比年轻成年人表现出更大的警觉性下降，尤其是当刺激高度退化时。然而，当刺激退化程度适中时，两个年龄组在敏感性稳定性方面表现出相同的模式；当刺激退化程度较高时，两个年龄组的敏感性均随时间下降。结果表明，能力持续分配的过程——如敏感性的时间变化所反映的——在年轻和年长成年人中运作方式相似。
