Zeef E J, Kok A
University of Amsterdam, Psychology Faculty, The Netherlands.
Psychophysiology. 1993 Mar;30(2):138-51. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1993.tb01727.x.
In this study, age-related differences in the selection of visual information were investigated. Two groups of younger and older subjects performed focused- and divided-attention (i.e., visual search) tasks. In the focused-attention task, centrally presented target letters could be flanked by compatible or incompatible noise letters. In the visual-search task, targets could be cued or uncued, and target locations could be spatially compatible or incompatible with the responding hand. P3 latency, lateralized readiness potentials, the electromyogram, and reaction times were used to detect possible age-related differences in the timing of stimulus- and response-related processes during selective processing of information. In the focused-attention task, performance of older subjects showed greater interference by incompatible flankers than did that of younger subjects because of stronger response competition caused by partial activation of the incorrect response channel by the incompatible flankers. No evidence was found of specific age-related differences in the efficiency of visual search in a divided-attention task. Furthermore, in both tasks, younger subjects showed an earlier start of response execution (in the electromyogram) relative to the onset of response preparation (lateralized readiness potential) and a higher percentage of incorrect electromyographic activity than did older subjects.
在本研究中，对视觉信息选择方面与年龄相关的差异进行了调查。两组年轻和年长受试者执行了集中注意力和分散注意力（即视觉搜索）任务。在集中注意力任务中，中央呈现的目标字母两侧可能是兼容或不兼容的干扰字母。在视觉搜索任务中，目标可能有提示或无提示，并且目标位置在空间上可能与反应手兼容或不兼容。使用P3潜伏期、偏侧化准备电位、肌电图和反应时间来检测在信息选择性处理过程中刺激和反应相关过程的时间上可能存在的与年龄相关的差异。在集中注意力任务中，年长受试者的表现比年轻受试者更容易受到不兼容侧翼干扰的影响，这是因为不兼容侧翼对错误反应通道的部分激活导致了更强的反应竞争。在分散注意力任务中，未发现视觉搜索效率方面存在与年龄相关的特定差异。此外，在两项任务中，年轻受试者相对于反应准备开始（偏侧化准备电位）表现出更早的反应执行开始（在肌电图中），并且肌电图活动错误的百分比高于年长受试者。
