Brink J M, McDowd J M
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 1999 Jan;54(1):P30-3. doi: 10.1093/geronb/54b.1.p30.
Previous studies have shown age-associated deficits in selective attention that vary as a function of task demands. The present study was conducted to dissociate the effect of task complexity on age-related performance differences from qualitative differences in cognitive demands. Twenty-four young and 24 older adults were administered two versions of the Stroop Test (Hartley, 1993). The Color-Block version required identifying the color of a box while ignoring the name of a color printed either above or below the box. The Color-Word version required naming the color of a word while ignoring the semantic meaning of the word (a color name). Each version of the task included a two- and four-color choice condition as a manipulation of task complexity. Old and young adults performed comparably on the Color-Block Task, but older adults were significantly impaired on both conditions of the Color-Word Task, particularly in the four-choice condition. Results suggest age-related differences in the distinct attentional processes demanded by each task are not attributable to general slowing.
先前的研究表明，与年龄相关的选择性注意力缺陷会随着任务需求的变化而变化。本研究旨在区分任务复杂性对与年龄相关的表现差异的影响，以及认知需求的质性差异。24名年轻人和24名老年人接受了两个版本的斯特鲁普测试（Hartley，1993）。色块版本要求识别一个盒子的颜色，同时忽略印在盒子上方或下方的颜色名称。色词版本要求说出一个单词的颜色，同时忽略该单词（颜色名称）的语义。每个任务版本都包括双色和四色选择条件，作为任务复杂性的一种操作。老年人和年轻人在色块任务上表现相当，但老年人在色词任务的两种条件下都受到显著损害，尤其是在四选条件下。结果表明，每项任务所要求的不同注意力过程中与年龄相关的差异并非归因于普遍的反应迟缓。
