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Lifespan changes in attention: The visual search task (1998)
| Venue: | Cognitive Development |
| Citations: | 31 - 5 self |
BibTeX
@ARTICLE{Trick98lifespanchanges,
author = {Lana M. Trick and James T. Enns},
title = {Lifespan changes in attention: The visual search task},
journal = {Cognitive Development},
year = {1998},
pages = {369--386}
}
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Abstract
There are two popular frameworks for the study of visual attention. Treis-man’s Feature Integration Theory focuses on the effortful process of binding together the multiple attributes of an object. Posner’s Visual Orienting Theory emphasizes the movement of an attentional spotlight across space. Although both aspects are undoubtedly important in any visual search task, it is not clear how each of these aspects changes with age. We tested observers aged 6, 8, 10, 22, and 72 years on visual search tasks designed to isolate these fac-tors. No age-related differences were found in single- or double-feature dis-crimination, attention movement to a single item, or search for a single-feature target among distracters. Two age-related changes were found: (1) young children were less able than either young adults or seniors to search for targets defined by a conjunction of features, and (2) both children and seniors were less able than young adults to move attention voluntarily from item to item. This implies that feature integration and voluntary movement of atten-tion have different trajectories over the lifespan. The visual search task is an important tool in the study of visual-spatial attention. In this task, observers try to indicate as rapidly as possible whether a given target item is present in a display. The experimenter manipulates the number of other items that are present (called non-targets or distracters), usually using the slope of the response time function over display size (RT slope) as a convenient index of the involvement of attention (Duncan & Humphrey % 1989; Neisser, 1967; Treis-
Keyphrases
visual search task lifespan change young adult treis-man feature integration theory single-feature target duncan humphrey attention movement popular framework aspect change target item double-feature dis-crimination multiple attribute different trajectory rt slope important tool visual orienting theory age-related difference effortful process age-related change young child single item attentional spotlight voluntary movement convenient index response time function visual attention display size feature integration visual-spatial attention
