Age, response complexity, and target consistency in visual search.

Adult age differences in visual search were examined under manipulations of target set consistency (fixed versus varied), response complexity (2 versus 4 sorting categories), display size (1, 4, or 8 letters/card), and sessions (2). Mean card sorting times of 20 young (mean = 22 years) and 20 elderly (mean = 62 years) adults were compared. Significant main effects of age, complexity, consistency, sessions, and display size were obtained. A consistent target set facilitated search independent of response complexity. As predicted, significant interactions indicated that age differences in search were eliminated under the fixed set procedure but not under the varied set procedure.