Cross-Task Compatibility and Age-Related Dual-Task Performance

Background/Study Context: This study examined the effects of stimulus-stimulus and response-response cross-task compatibility and aging on dual-task performance. Hypothesis 1 predicted that the response code compatibility effect in both experiments would benefit older adults comparably to younger ad...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Experimental aging research 2012-10, Vol.38 (5), p.469-487
Main Authors: Grabbe, Jeremy W., Allen, Philip A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adult. Elderly
Age Factors
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Aging - physiology
Aging - psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Color Perception - physiology
Developmental psychology
Experimental psychology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human performance
Humans
Hypotheses
Male
Motion Perception - physiology
Older people
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Young Adult
Young adults
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Summary:Background/Study Context: This study examined the effects of stimulus-stimulus and response-response cross-task compatibility and aging on dual-task performance. Hypothesis 1 predicted that the response code compatibility effect in both experiments would benefit older adults comparably to younger adults. Hypothesis 2 predicted that stimulus-stimulus compatibility would be additive to the effects of cross-task compatibility. Methods: Younger and older adults participated in two dual-task experiments. Experiment 1 utilized a cross-task compatibility design identical to that of Koch and Prinz ( 2002 , Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 28, 192-201). Experiment 2 added a stimulus-stimulus compatibility condition. Results: The results of both experiments supported Hypothesis 1. Older adults displayed comparable cross-task compatibility effects to younger adults. The data did not support Hypothesis 2. The response-response compatibility effect from Experiment 1 was replicated, but the effect of stimulus-stimulus compatibility was not significant. Conclusion: The results of both experiments showed that older adults were able to take advantage of cross-task compatibility as a task design to improve dual-task performance. The lack of stimulus-stimulus compatibility effects in Experiment 2 suggested that the benefit of task design may be limited in effect.
ISSN:0361-073X
1096-4657
DOI:10.1080/0361073X.2012.726154