Smith G A, Brewer N
Department of Psychology, University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Australia.
Psychol Aging. 1995 Jun;10(2):238-47. doi: 10.1037//0882-7974.10.2.238.
Young and older adults' mechanisms of trial-by-trial control of accuracy and choice reaction times (RTs) were compared in 2,000 trials. With equal mean error rates, the older group's correct and error RT were longer, and their within-subject distribution was a linear function of the younger group's. Conditional accuracy functions (CAFs) were very similar in location and shape, with both groups achieving 95% accuracy at the same RT. Combining RT distributions with CAFs showed that the older group did not track their limits as often as the younger group, and they were more careful, having fewer very fast (near random) responses, more average speed responses in long error-free runs, and more slowing following an error. All participants were faster before an error and slower immediately after, but the older participants had coarser RT control. To compensate for this, the older participants produced slower responding to avoid the very fast, high-error part of the CAF.
在2000次试验中，对年轻人和老年人在逐次试验中控制准确性和选择反应时间（RT）的机制进行了比较。在平均错误率相同的情况下，老年组的正确反应时间和错误反应时间更长，并且他们在个体内部的分布是年轻组的线性函数。条件准确性函数（CAF）在位置和形状上非常相似，两组在相同的反应时间下都能达到95%的准确率。将反应时间分布与CAF相结合表明，老年组不像年轻组那样经常跟踪他们的极限，而且他们更谨慎，非常快速（接近随机）的反应更少，在长时间无错误的试验中平均速度反应更多，并且在错误后更多地出现反应减慢。所有参与者在错误之前反应更快，在错误之后立即反应更慢，但老年参与者的反应时间控制更粗糙。为了弥补这一点，老年参与者反应更慢，以避免CAF中非常快速、高错误率的部分。
