Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
Appl Ergon. 2019 Jan;74:74-84. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2018.08.016. Epub 2018 Aug 17.
Research has shown that older adults interact with products less intuitively than younger adults, and that familiarity is an essential element of intuitive interaction. This paper reports on the findings of two empirical studies that examined familiarity in younger and older adults. Each study comprised 32 participants over four age groups. The first study required participants to use their own contemporary products in their homes in order to investigate older adults' familiarity with them, and how this familiarity differed from that of younger adults. Older people were less familiar with their own contemporary products that younger people. The second study aimed to investigate differences in familiarity between younger and older adults while using products that they did not own and were likely to be less familiar with. When using products not already familiar to them, both middle aged and older adults showed significantly lower familiarity than younger people. The significance of this research is in its empirical findings about familiarity differences between age groups. It has been recognised that the identification and understanding of differences in familiarity will enable designers to design more intuitive interfaces and systems for both younger and older cohorts. The implications of the findings from the two studies reported here are discussed in light of this recognition.
研究表明，老年人与产品的交互不如年轻人直观，而熟悉度是直观交互的一个重要因素。本文报告了两项实证研究的结果，这些研究考察了年轻人和老年人的熟悉度。每个研究都由四个年龄组的 32 名参与者组成。第一项研究要求参与者在家中使用自己的现代产品，以调查老年人对这些产品的熟悉程度，以及这种熟悉程度与年轻人的不同。老年人对自己的现代产品不如年轻人熟悉。第二项研究旨在调查年轻人和老年人在使用自己不拥有且可能不太熟悉的产品时熟悉度的差异。当使用对他们来说不熟悉的产品时，中年人和老年人的熟悉度都明显低于年轻人。这项研究的意义在于其关于年龄组之间熟悉度差异的实证发现。人们已经认识到，识别和理解熟悉度的差异将使设计师能够为年轻和年长的群体设计更直观的界面和系统。根据这一认识，讨论了这里报告的两项研究结果的意义。
