Habitual attention in older and young adults

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Human Aging Research
• Visual Perception

Background:

• Age-related cognitive decline impacts explicit memory and learning.
• Incidental learning and habitual attention may be preserved in older adults.
• Previous research on habitual attention conflated spatial attention with context processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To isolate and examine habitual attention in older adults.
• To investigate the acquisition, persistence, and spatial-reference frame of habitual attention.
• To determine if habitual attention is preserved in aging.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a visual search task with quadrant-based target probability.
• Isolated habitual attention from context processing in young and older adults.
• Examined search times, search slopes, and spatial-reference frame of attention.

Main Results:

• Older adults exhibited slower visual search but acquired a strong, persistent search habit.
• Habitual attention was viewer-centered in both young and older adults.
• Older adults demonstrated preserved incidental probabilistic learning.

Conclusions:

• Viewer-centered habitual attention is preserved in older adults.
• This preserved ability may compensate for declines in controlled attention.
• Maintaining habit-related spatial arrangements is important for older adults.