Age-Related Differences in Perceptual Organization and Selective Attention: Implications for Display Segmentation and Recall Performance

Abstract

The present research examined age-related differences in the use of structural aspects of the visual environment to facilitate the processing of task- relevant stimuli . More specifically , our study considered age related differences in the use of color and proximity to facilitate the recall of alphabetic strings . The dependent measure of interest was the difference in percent recalled for items when grouped into the first or second of two groups that comprised the alphabetic string . When differ ences in visual short - term memory were controlled , old adults demon strated a greater sensitivity to grouping by proximity and grouping by similarity than did younger adults . This increase in recall as a function of grouping is consistent with Craik's (1986) ( In F . Klix & H . Hagen dorf [ Eds .], Human memory and cognitive capabilities, mechanisms, and performances [ pp . 409-422 ]. North Holland: Elsevier ) view that older adults can benefit when environmental support is provided for per ception and memory components of task performance . The results suggest that applications employing multielement codes or signage may benefit from grouping together related or the most critical items . Most notably , this benefit would be as large or larger for the old than for the younger user populations .