@article{ref1,
title="Aging and selective attention: an issue of complexity or multiple mechanisms?",
journal="Journals of gerontology. Series B: psychological sciences and social sciences",
year="1999",
author="Brink, J. M. and McDowd, Joan M.",
volume="54",
number="1",
pages="30-33",
abstract="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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1079-5014",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}