Aging and the development of automaticity in visual search
Abstract
The rate of short-term memory search has previously been reported to be slower for
older individuals than for college-age Ss (F. I. Craik, 1977). Current research has
suggested that after extensive practice with the same population of stimuli, performance
in memory-search and visual-search tasks can become "automatic," or independent of
memory load. The present experiment examined age differences in the development of
automatic processing in a hybrid memory-search/visual-search paradigm; 8 young (18-25
yrs old) and 8 older (61-74 yrs old) Ss participated. Although older Ss demonstrated
a significantly slower rate of search, the 2 age groups shifted toward automatic processing,
over practice, at equivalent rates. The slower rate of search thus represents an age-related
increase in the time required to compare the memory-set items against those in a visual
array, rather than a change in the mode of processing available. (20 ref) (PsycINFO
Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1980 American Psychological
Association.
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Journal articlePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/22550Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1037/0012-1649.16.5.377Publication Info
Madden, DJ; & Nebes, RD (1980). Aging and the development of automaticity in visual search. Developmental Psychology, 16(5). pp. 377-384. 10.1037/0012-1649.16.5.377. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/22550.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
David Joseph Madden
Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
My research focuses primarily on the cognitive neuroscience of aging: the investigation
of age-related changes in perception, attention, and memory, using both behavioral
measures and neuroimaging techniques, including positron emission tomography (PET),
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).
The behavioral measures have focused on reaction time, with the goal of distinguishing
age-related changes in specific cognitive abilities from mo

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