Using the attention cascade model to probe cognitive aging
Using the attention cascade model to probe cognitive aging
Young and older adults searched for two digit targets among black letter distractors in rapid serial visual presentation. Unsurprisingly, relative to the young, the old performed worse on both targets and exhibited greater and longer attentional blink. The data of each group were computationally accounted for by the attention cascade model (Shih, 2008) with seven parameters; the optimum values and 95% confidence intervals of the parameters were based on 10,000 bootstrap samples. There was no age effect on the width of the attention window, or the capacity of the consolidation processor. However, relative to the young, the old suffered more masking effect of the salient (and brighter) stimulus, required longer consolidation duration, and had greater and more spread decision noise. The processing rate prior to working memory was numerically slower in the old. Both age groups adopted inefficient strategy during the task – engaging the consolidation processor unnecessarily long. Further simulations suggest that varying the duration can emulate strong, weak, or non-blinkers. The attention cascade model appears a useful tool for the investigation of cognitive aging and other comparative studies.
550-562
Shih, Shui-I
06e53311-9263-4ce5-a124-c369570d20d6
September 2009
Shih, Shui-I
06e53311-9263-4ce5-a124-c369570d20d6
Shih, Shui-I
(2009)
Using the attention cascade model to probe cognitive aging.
Psychology and Aging, 24 (3), .
(doi:10.1037/a0016724).
Abstract
Young and older adults searched for two digit targets among black letter distractors in rapid serial visual presentation. Unsurprisingly, relative to the young, the old performed worse on both targets and exhibited greater and longer attentional blink. The data of each group were computationally accounted for by the attention cascade model (Shih, 2008) with seven parameters; the optimum values and 95% confidence intervals of the parameters were based on 10,000 bootstrap samples. There was no age effect on the width of the attention window, or the capacity of the consolidation processor. However, relative to the young, the old suffered more masking effect of the salient (and brighter) stimulus, required longer consolidation duration, and had greater and more spread decision noise. The processing rate prior to working memory was numerically slower in the old. Both age groups adopted inefficient strategy during the task – engaging the consolidation processor unnecessarily long. Further simulations suggest that varying the duration can emulate strong, weak, or non-blinkers. The attention cascade model appears a useful tool for the investigation of cognitive aging and other comparative studies.
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Published date: September 2009
Additional Information:
This research applied a computational model to simultaneously evaluate a variety of factors (e.g., processing speed and strategy, working memory capacity) that may explain the age-related effects observed in tasks involving processing and remembering rapidly occurring visual events.
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Local EPrints ID: 69468
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/69468
ISSN: 0882-7974
PURE UUID: 79c1bad4-bbaf-4ba1-a908-edd61b382a28
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Date deposited: 13 Nov 2009
Last modified: 13 Mar 2024 19:33
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