HAPL: Research Projects
HAPL: Research Projects
Funding acknowledgement for our aging research
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Researchers: Sherry Mead, Richard Sit, Brian Jamieson, Gabe Rousseau, Dr. Wendy A. Rogers
Vicente, Hayes & Williges (1987) suggested that hierarchical file system searchers maintain a representation of position within the hierarchy in memory while searching. Consequently, searchers with poorer spatial skills should adopt high visual momentum navigation strategies--strategies that minimize change in position per entry in order to track position using the screen display rather that relying on spatial memory. Since older adults have demonstrated poorer spatial ability and lower working memory capacity than younger adults, we would expect them to adopt high visual momentum navigation strategies.
We asked 10 older & 10 younger adults with prior computer experience to perform 10 search tasks using a computerized library database.
Older adults were more likely than younger adults to prefer sequential, continuous file transitions to discontinuous transitions. That is, they preferred to traverse one level of the hierarchy per. Younger adults were more likely to use navigation short cuts that allowed them to traverse more than one level per entry.
Older adults were more likely to move up to higher levels in the file structure or, as Vicente, et. al. put it, to "zoom out" in order to obtain a broader view of the hierarchy. Older adults preferred to move up to a list of items before selecting another database record to display while younger adults were more likely to move laterally from record to record. Older adults were also more likely to start each new search from the top of the hierarchy while younger adults were willing to start new searches from other locations.
Due to their position-tracking behaviors, older adults entered more navigation commands per search and moved shorter distances per command than did younger adults. On-screen navigation aids like spatial maps and salient, well-defined short cuts could disproportionately benefit older adults.
For more information,
send e-mail to:
Sherry Mead (sm96@prism.gatech.edu) or Dr. Wendy A. Rogers (wrogers@uga.cc.uga.edu)
Researchers: Sherry Mead, Richard Sit, Brian Jamieson, Gabe Rousseau, Dr. Wendy A. Rogers
Successful use of online library systems requires a general understanding of database structure (What is a database field and what kind of information does it contain?), character string matching algorithms used to match user queries to text within individual database records, and the difference between the everyday usage of AND and OR and Boolean AND and OR. Library systems with command line interfaces often require complex command syntax. Library researchers have reported that these are the most difficult concepts for younger searchers to master, but they seldom study older searchers.
We asked 10 older & 10 younger adults with prior computer experience to perform 10 search tasks using a computerized library database.
Both older and younger searchers successfully mapped search criteria onto database fields to search on a large majority of trials. However, older adults did make slightly more field specification errors and they were less likely to try searching multiple fields in order to retrieve more records. A combination of training plus a default field specification (e.g. search all the most commonly searched fields) is likely to improve performance.
Older searchers demonstrated poorer understanding of character string matching than did younger adults. They were more likely to expect keywords to match variants (same root with suffix appended) and synonyms. They were also more likely to alter the keywords given in the task descriptions when querying the database. Expert system researchers have created matching algorithms that are more consistent with the expectations of older searchers. Incorporating these algorithms into online library systems should benefit older users.
Both older and younger searchers used Boolean operators correctly on most trials and demonstrated conceptual understanding of Boolean OR. However, 30% of younger searchers and 50% of older searchers demonstrated poor conceptual understanding of Boolean AND. Training has been used by librarians to improve the understanding of younger adults. It should also benefit older adults.
Complex command syntax proved to be the most problematic aspect of the library system for older searchers. Individual query commands required three to six individual components separated by spaces including explicit specification of codes representing search methods and fields to search. Typographical errors and missing command components accounted for the majority of errors made by older adults. Including system defaults and switching to graphical form fill-in interfaces should alleviate these problems.
For more information,
send e-mail to:
Sherry Mead (sm96@prism.gatech.edu) or Dr. Wendy A. Rogers (wrogers@uga.cc.uga.edu)
Automatic
teller machines:
Training novice older adults
Researchers: Sherry Mead, Dr. Arthur D. Fisk, Dr. Wendy A. Rogers, Dr. Neff Walker, Brian Jamieson, Gabe Rousseau, Beth Cabrera
Two studies examined the effectiveness of different training techniques on older adults' performance in using a simulated automatic teller machine.
Three programs for training older adults to use an ATM simulator were compared: 1) Online Tutorial - learners clicked the appropriate button or object at each system state; 2) Pictorial Guide - learners read an illustrated outline that included the correct action to take and a picture of the simulator at each system state; and, 3) Text Guide - learners read a description of the appearance of the simulator and the correct action to take at each system state. The tutorial group outperformed the other training groups in both speed and accuracy. Hands-on experience with a system (the online tutorial program) has been found to produce superior task performance and better skill retention.
A second study examined the effectiveness of conceptual vs. procedural training for skill acquisition and retention by older and younger adults. A Concept tutorial presented appropriate conceptual information at each system state. An Action tutorial directed learners' attention to on-screen targets and required them to take the correct action. There were no differential effects of type of training on younger adults' immediate or delayed performance. However, older Action trainees outperformed older Concept trainees in terms of both speed (almost 1 minute faster) and accuracy (20% higher) during practice. They maintained a small speed advantage after the one-month delay. These findings suggest that hands-on training is especially important for older learners and that studying older adults provides information that cannot be obtained by studying younger adults alone.
For more information,
send e-mail to:
Sherry Mead (sm96@prism.gatech.edu)
Researchers: Peter Batsakes, Dr. Arthur D. Fisk
One of the more robust findings in the dual-task literature concerns the decrement in performance which occurs for highly practiced single tasks when participants are asked to perform these tasks concurrently. Detweiler & Lundy (1995) have suggested that single-task training does not allow for the opportunity to learn how to coordinate task components during dual-task performance thereby minimizing competition and interference between tasks. Therefore, even if participants have practiced single tasks extensively, substantial dual-task practice is necessary to regain previous single-task levels of performance. Because of this performance decrement upon transfer to the dual-task, some researchers have expressed the opinion that dual-task or timesharing performance should be considered a skill and that the mechanisms involved in it's acquisition should be better understood (Damos & Wickens, 1980). In order to attribute performance improvement to the existence of a timesharing skill, evidence must be obtained from experimental data which permits the separation of performance attributed to component tasks from timesharing skills.
Twenty-four young and 24 old participants were recruited for 3 sessions of training. The first session involved 9 blocks of single-task training on each of 2 visual search tasks; a category search task and a pattern matching task. Each block consisted of 4 multiple-frame trials (each trial contained 60 frames) in which participants responded to the presence of a target frame while ignoring distractor frames. Performance was alternated from block to block between tasks and frame duration was matched to individual performance. The second and third sessions consisted of dual-task training. Participants received six blocks of training on 3 different speeds of the dual-task during each session . The three speeds were calculated for each individual participant based on single-task performance. A second measure of single-task performance was obtained at the end of dual-task practice.
During single-task practice, frame duration decreased from 400 ms. on the first block of training to an average of 229.17 ms. on the last block of training for the young participants on the category search task and to 213.54 ms. on the last block of the pattern matching task. The ending average frame durations for the old participants were 303.12 ms. and 314.58 ms. on the category search and pattern matching tasks, respectively. In essence, younger participants performed better initially during single-task training but there was a greater amount of overall improvement in accuracy for the older participants.
Initial performance on the dual task was disrupted to a much greater extent for the older participants. 42.5% and 65.1% on the category search and pattern matching tasks, respectively. This is compared to disruption of 19.3% and 32.7%, respectively on these tasks for the young participants. As reported before (McDowd & Craik, 1988) older adults performance was effected to a much greater extent when asked to divide their attention between two concurrent tasks. However, older participants did exhibit a greater amount of overall improvement in performance with practice on the dual-task. Older adults showed as much as a 200% performance improvement on the pattern task during the slowest frame duration. At the end of dual-task practice, there was minimal improvement in single-task performance for both young and old adults suggesting that dual-task performance improvement cannot be completely attributed to improvements in performance on the component tasks.
For more information,
send e-mail to:
Peter Batsakes (pb50@prism.gatech.edu) or Dr. Arthur D. Fisk (Arthur.Fisk@psych.gatech.edu)
Researchers: Peter Batsakes, Dr. Arthur D. Fisk
We know relatively little about how the retention of knowledge and skills is affected by conditions of original learning, training strategies, intervening activities, or the differential decay or survival of the component processes of a skill. Differing conclusions have been drawn from the existing literature with some suggesting that age does not interact with delay in terms of performance quality (e.g., Charness & Campbell, 1988; Hulicka & Weiss, 1965; Salthouse & Somberg, 1982) and some suggesting that performance disproportionately degrades over the delay interval for older adults compared to younger adults. (e.g., Cohen & Faulkner, 1984; Harwood & Naylor, 1969). These mixed results seem to arise from one of or a combination of factors such as different retention interval lengths, different types of original learning and/or age-related differences in retention capabilities.
The present study was conducted in order to add data which would ultimately address:
| 1. | The development of a general framework predicting retention of performance as a function of underlying components of acquired skill, length of retention interval, intervening activities and age. |
| 2. | How, when and if interactions of age, retention interval, and (some) component processes change as a function of (i) strategic and automatic aspects of a skill and (ii) cognitive/skill domain. |
| 3. | The effect of both type and quality of learning on retention performance when relatively short retention intervals are used. |
Ninety older (M = 70,31 yrs) and 90 younger (M = 19.3 yrs) adults participated in the study. Ten taxonomic categories were selected from Battig & Montegue's (1969) Taxonomic Category Norms. Each participant was assigned 5 different CM target/distractor pairings based on a counterbalanced design. Three of these target/distractor pairings were used during 5 sessions of CM training. The 6th session consisted of a transfer task in which one of the target/distractor pairing underwent a full reversal procedure. Disruption of performance was used as an index of the development of an Automatic Attention Response (AAR). Participants were then assigned into one of three retention groups; 2 weeks, 4 weeks or 8 weeks. At retention testing, participants were presented with a second full-reversal procedure and, again, disruption of performance was used as an indication of the maintenance of an AAR. New stimuli pairings were introduced at both transfer and retention in order to assess the development and maintenance of general, task-specific skill.
Conclusions from the data:
| 1. | Consistent with other studies, both young and old adults demonstrate remarkable ability to retain recently trained perceptual skills. |
| 2. | An AAR was maintained for up to 2 months without decay for the younger participants. |
| 3. | Older adults do show impressive retention capabilities for up to 8 weeks suggesting that there may be faster decay for the older participants. |
| 4. | Presentation of a disruptive intervening event prior to the retention interval did not appear to produce an age-related interaction as has been previously observed in other learning domains. |
| 5. | These data help us to interpret differing results in the literature. The length of the retention interval is critical in assessing differences in retention capability as well as the learning domain. |
For more information,
send e-mail to:
Peter Batsakes (pb50@prism.gatech.edu) or Dr. Arthur D. Fisk (Arthur.Fisk@psych.gatech.edu)
Researchers: Dr. Wendy A. Rogers, Beth Meyer, Dr. Neff Walker, Dr. Arthur D. Fisk
We conducted a series of eight focus groups to investigate problems, particularly usability or human factors issues, that affect the daily lives of older adults. Participants in seven of the groups were in the 65-80 age range; in the eighth group, they were all over 80. The groups varied in terms of race, average income, and type of living arrangement. With the help of eight coders from the Human Attention and Performance Lab, we coded the reported issues along five dimensions simultaneously. These were:
 |
locus of the age-related deficit relevant to the problem (such as gross movement, balance, vision, working memory) |
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a distinction between tasks that are difficult and tasks that are risky |
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type of activity being performed (such as transportation or housekeeping) |
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type of adaptation to problem (such as discontinuing an activity or making changes to one's environment) |
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types of potential interventions (such as training or redesign) |
Most of the problems reported had the potential to be improved by training or redesign, an important result for aging research.
For more information,
send e-mail to:
Dr. Wendy A. Rogers (wrogers@uga.cc.uga.edu) or Beth Meyer (bmeyer@psy.tfe.gatech.edu)
Enhancing
older adults' mouse use: Area cursors and sticky icons
Researchers: Aileen Worden, Dr. Neff Walker, Krishna Bharat, and Scott Hudson
This project demonstrates how older adults' difficulties with mouse selection tasks can be addressed with the combination of area cursors and sticky icons.
The normal effects of aging include some decline in cognitive, perceptual, and motor abilities. This can have a negative effect on the performance of a number of tasks, including basic pointing and selection tasks common to today's graphical user interfaces. This paper describes a study of the effectiveness of two interaction techniques: area cursors and sticky icons, in improving the performance of older adults in basic selection tasks. This study indicates that when combined, these techniques can decrease target selection times for older adults by as much as 50% when applied to the most difficult cases (smallest selection targets). At the same time these techniques are shown not to impede performance in cases known to be problematical for related techniques (e.g., differentiation between closely spaced targets) and to provide similar but smaller benefits for younger users.
For more information,
send e-mail to:
Dr. Neff Walker (neff.walker@psych.gatech.edu)
Age group
differences
in World Wide Web navigation
Researchers: Beth Meyer, Sherry Mead, Victoria Spaulding, Richard Sit, and Dr. Neff Walker
We examined age group differences in World Wide Web navigation. Eleven older and twelve younger novice Web users searched a simplified version of the Scientific American Web site. This modified Web site included a variety of common navigation tools including: on- and off-page links embedded in text, sidebars, and lists; a navigation bar at the top of major pages; a "Table of Contents"; and a site map. Participants viewed the site with Netscape Navigator 2.0 and were encouraged to use browser buttons ("Back," "Forward," and "Home"). Half of the participants completed a tutorial on web navigation created for this study; the other half were given brief verbal instructions for identifying links.
Older users followed many more links per task than younger users. Older adults were less likely to recall or recognize previously visited locations, were more likely to return to a previously seen page, and were more likely to return to the Home Page to begin a new task. These results suggest that older adults are more likely to "get lost" than younger adults. This problem could be reduced with browser or page designs that give richer cues about where the reader is in the network, and about which pages have already been visited.
For more information,
send e-mail to:
Beth Meyer (bmeyer@psy.tfe.gatech.edu) or Sherry Mead (sm96@prism.gatech.edu)
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