The goals of this project are to develop two explicit accounts of age effects in visual attention: 1) a model of complete RT distributions using a random walk model, and 2) a model of visual encoding functions. The experiments will involve making measurements of subjects' reaction times and accuracies under a variety of visual display conditions. Experiments 1-3 will use long-duration (unmasked) targets, and various display and stimulus variables will be manipulated. Random walks will be fitted to the complete RT distributions, and the best-fit parameters will yield information about age-group differences in attentional mechanisms. Experiments 4-6 will use short-duration (masked) targets, and accuracy will be measured as a function of target duration. These encoding functions are expected to allow age-group comparisons of attentional facilitation by taking sensory factors into explicit account. Experiments 7-8 will extend the current methods of analysis to a related attention paradigm. Analyses from the proposed project will allow us to understand better the mechanisms of age-related change in attentional facilitation.
| Gottlob, Lawrence R; Fillmore, Mark T; Abroms, Ben D (2007) Age-group differences in inhibiting an oculomotor response. Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 14:586-93 |
| Gottlob, Lawrence R (2007) Aging and capacity in the same-different judgment. Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 14:55-69 |
| Gottlob, Lawrence R; Fillmore, Mark T; Abroms, Ben D (2007) Age-group differences in saccadic interference. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 62:P85-9 |
| Gottlob, Lawrence R (2006) Aging and comparative search for feature differences. Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 13:435-57 |
| Gottlob, Lawrence R (2006) Age-related deficits in guided search using cues. Psychol Aging 21:526-34 |
| Gottlob, Lawrence R (2004) Location cuing and response time distributions in visual attention. Percept Psychophys 66:1293-302 |
