Department of Psychology.
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Temple University.
Psychol Aging. 2018 Dec;33(8):1215-1222. doi: 10.1037/pag0000320.
Subtle changes in everyday tasks precede and predict future disability in older adults. Eye tracking may provide a sensitive tool for detecting subtle disruption of everyday task performance and informing the mechanism(s) of breakdown. We tracked eye movements of healthy older adults (OA, n = 24) and younger adults (YA, n = 25) while they passively viewed a naturalistic scene (Passive Viewing condition) and then verbally reported the necessary steps for achieving a task goal (e.g., pack a lunch; Verbalize Goal condition). Participants also completed a performance-based task of packing a lunch using real objects as well as neuropsychological tests. Group (young vs. old) by Condition (Passive Viewing vs. Verbalize Goal) ANOVAs were conducted to analyze eye tracking variables (i.e., fixation rate, number/duration of fixations to target/distractor objects and off objects). Both the younger and older adults made significantly fewer fixations to distractors during Verbalize Goal than Passive Viewing. Also, significant Group × Condition interactions were observed, indicating that younger adults, but not older adults, spent significantly more time viewing targets and less time off-objects in the goal driven, Verbalize Goal condition than the Passive Viewing condition. Goal-directed eye movements correlated with everyday action errors and tests of executive functioning. Taken together, results support theories of age-related decline in top-down cognitive control and indicate the potential utility of this eye tracking paradigm in detecting subtle age-related functional changes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
日常任务中的细微变化先于并预测老年人未来的残疾。眼动追踪可能是一种检测日常任务表现细微中断并告知崩溃机制的敏感工具。我们跟踪了健康的老年人（OA，n = 24）和年轻人（YA，n = 25）的眼球运动，他们在被动观看自然场景（被动观看条件）的同时口头报告实现任务目标所需的步骤（例如，打包午餐；口头报告目标条件）。参与者还使用真实物体完成了打包午餐的基于绩效的任务，以及神经心理学测试。进行了组（年轻 vs. 年老）与条件（被动观看 vs. 口头报告目标）的 ANOVA 分析，以分析眼动追踪变量（即注视率、注视目标/分心物体和离物体的次数/持续时间）。与被动观看相比，在口头报告目标时，年轻人和老年人的注意力都明显较少地集中在分心物体上。此外，观察到显著的组间条件交互作用，表明年轻参与者，但不是年长参与者，在目标驱动的口头报告目标条件下比在被动观看条件下，观看目标的时间显著增加，观看离物体的时间显著减少。目标导向的眼球运动与日常动作错误和执行功能测试相关。总的来说，这些结果支持与年龄相关的自上而下的认知控制下降理论，并表明这种眼动追踪范式在检测微妙的与年龄相关的功能变化方面具有潜在的效用。（PsycINFO 数据库记录（c）2018 APA，保留所有权利）。
