Haptic exploration in young, middle-aged, and elderly adults

Matching accuracy and strategy utilization in young, middle-aged, and elderly adults was examined in a series of intramodal, haptic match-to-standard problems. Subjects were presented with 2-, 3-, and 4-comparison stimulus arrays and asked to locate by touch alone the comparison stimulus that exactly matched the standard. Results indicated that elderly adults, in comparison to young and middle-aged adults, were less successful in solving the haptic problems. Furthermore, they also displayed less systematic and logical haptic search strategies. Discussion of the results focused on the competence-performance distinction and the relation of selectivity and performance during the aging process.