Week 8 Day 1: Selective Attention and Aging.

Older adults show the greatest deficit in multitasking when:

1) Task-load is high 2) Distractors are more similar 3) Tasks are speeded.

Effects of Aging on Selective Attention

Top Down vs. Bottom Up attention 1) Bottom up processing appears to decline (slower to respond to stimulus) 2) Top-down processing appears to be maintained. Challenges in studying attentional changes: 1) How do you discriminate between General Slowing of Processing vs. Attention a) Bottom-up responses: very quick; it can be difficult to determine if it's an attention problem or is the brain just slowing down.

when filtering of information occurs

Two possbilities: i. Early filtering -Makes it into sensory memory but filtered out. ii. Late term filtering - Makes it into STM/WM but filtered out before LTM For most information, there is some processing happening, even subconsciously.

Multitasking Example

Walking and Talking: require a fair amount of attention, especially on irregular terrain. i. Decline in posture and gait when performing cognitive tasks ii. Slower to cross street when talking on phone - requires enough attention that it slows down your walking.

Multitasking - Previous Experiences:

When a task is related to prior experience (e.g. occupation) multi-tasking losses aren't observed.

Define Selective Attention

a. Selective Attention: focus on task-relevant information and ignore all other information going on at the same time. b. Selective Attention Task: i. Find the right target, the red Q, and ignore the rest.

divided attention

a. Two (or more) concurrent tasks.

Attention as a Limited Resource:

as we get older, we get worse at choosing how much attention to give one task over another.

Divided Attention and Aging:

i. Similar performance on some tasks 1) Detecting multiple targets in a display. 2) Comparing targets ii. General Decline 1) When using multiple types of targets (e.g. numberes and letters) 2) Increasing number of tracked items 3) Longer task duration 4) Attending to multiple auditory inputs 5) Multimodal tasks. Example: reading and watching tv at the same time; driving and texting

Bottom Up Attention

i. Stimulus driven ii. Salience: how much something sticks out Example: - Ambulance passing through - Fire alarm - Cats chasing a laser pointer

Top-Down Attention

i. Task or goal directed: you have to search for something with a goal in mind. Example: - Where's Waldo - Looking for something specific in the grocery store - Trying to find the right answer in a MC test.

Real Life Examples of Selective Attention Tasks

i. Writing a midterm exam: paying attention to the test, and ignore your surroundings. ii. Romantic Dinner at a restaurant: pay attention to the conversation with your date, ignore the rest of the room and waitors.

Left Visual Field Declines

i. Younger adults show leftward bias. ii. Older adults show a decline in the left visual field performance. 1) Contributes to Fall risk in adults; a trip and fall in an older adults can have severe consequences.

Multitasking

we are not particularly good at it i. Very attentionally demanding ii. Some declines, dependent on the combination of tasks.