Older adults acquire new skills more slowly and less successfully than young adults. Why? One possibility that has received minimal empirical attention is that older adults' approach to the task (i.e., their strategy) may be different from young adults'. Preliminary research suggests that older adults do adopt different task strategies, such strategy differences do mediate age-related differences in skill acquisition, and the strategy use of older adults can be influenced by the structure of the task. The proposed research is designed to answer the following questions: (1) When do older adults use different strategies in skill acquisition tasks? (2) What are the mechanisms that underlie differential strategy use? (3) Is strategy selection of older adults amenable to change, or is it strictly limited by cognitive and speed abilities? (4) Can training and task structure be designed to enable older adults to use the optimal strategy? (5) How can strategy differences be incorporated into a general theory of age-related differences in skill acquisition? Twelve experiments are proposed to investigate strategy issues for young and older adults for a range of skills including perceptual learning, memory-based associative learning, and more complex skills such as learning to use an automatic teller machine and learning to make logic decisions. The proposed effort consists of three experimental series to systematically pursue the goals of identifying and understanding age-related differences in strategy selection, strategy use, and strategy adjustment. First, the costs and benefits of prior practice will be determined to assess the influence of nonspecific transfer on skill acquisition. Second, practice schedule manipulations will determine how task training should be structured to facilitate use of efficient strategies for learning. Third, the flexibility of strategy selection will be assessed with the goal of identifying the task components that lead to optimal strategy choice. The results of the proposed research will yield basic empirical data for a model of age-related differences in skill acquisition as well as practical information about how and when such age-related differences can be minimized through task design or appropriate training.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AG018177-02
Application #
6169086
Study Section
Human Development and Aging Subcommittee 3 (HUD)
Program Officer
Elias, Jeffrey W
Project Start
1999-09-15
Project End
2004-08-31
Budget Start
2000-09-01
Budget End
2001-08-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2000
Total Cost
$79,081
Indirect Cost
Name
Georgia Institute of Technology
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
097394084
City
Atlanta
State
GA
Country
United States
Zip Code
30332
Caine, Kelly E; Nichols, Timothy A; Fisk, Arthur D et al. (2011) Age-related differences in learning incidental, environmental information. Exp Aging Res 37:17-45
Ezer, Neta; Fisk, Arthur D; Rogers, Wendy A (2009) More than a Servant: Self-Reported Willingness of Younger and Older Adults to having a Robot perform Interactive and Critical Tasks in the Home. Proc Hum Factors Ergon Soc Annu Meet 53:136-140
Lamson, Nina; Rogers, Wendy A (2008) Assessing age-related patterns in strategy selection on a mathematical problem-solving task. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 63:P146-55
Hickman, Jamye M; Rogers, Wendy A; Fisk, Arthur D (2007) Training older adults to use new technology. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 62 Spec No 1:77-84
Mitzner, Tracy L; Rogers, Wendy A (2006) Reading in the dark: effects of age and contrast on reading speed and comprehension. Hum Factors 48:229-40
Hancock, Holly E; Fisk, Arthur D; Rogers, Wendy A (2005) Comprehending product warning information: age-related effects and the roles of memory, inferencing, and knowledge. Hum Factors 47:219-34
Hancock, Holly E; Rogers, Wendy A; Schroeder, Derek et al. (2004) Safety symbol comprehension: effects of symbol type, familiarity, and age. Hum Factors 46:183-95
Rousseau, Gabriel K; Rogers, Wendy A (2002) Effects of processing style and age on schema acquisition. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 57:P11-8
Mayhorn, Christopher B; Fisk, Arthur D; Whittle, Justin D (2002) Decisions, decisions: analysis of age, cohort, and time of testing on framing of risky decision options. Hum Factors 44:515-21
Jamieson, B A; Rogers, W A (2000) Age-related effects of blocked and random practice schedules on learning a new technology. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 55:P343-53