Skip to main content

Adult Age Differences in Attentional Selectivity and Capacity

Publication ,  Journal Article
Madden, DJ
Published in: European Journal of Cognitive Psychology
July 1, 1990

This paper reviews empirical research on adult age differences in the use of attention during visual search and classification tasks. This research suggests that the selective aspect of attention, in the sense of the ability to discriminate relevant and irrelevant information, is relatively resistant to age-related change. The capacity aspect of attention, in the sense of the limited processing resources that underlie task performance, appears to undergo age-related decline. Questions remain, however, regarding whether capacity-reduction explanations of age differences in cognitive performance have any advantages over explanations based on task complexity. Recent analyses of ageing and attention emphasise the potential contribution of formal models of cognitive performance. © 1990, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Duke Scholars

Published In

European Journal of Cognitive Psychology

DOI

EISSN

1464-0635

ISSN

0954-1446

Publication Date

July 1, 1990

Volume

2

Issue

3

Start / End Page

229 / 252

Related Subject Headings

  • Experimental Psychology
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1701 Psychology
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Madden, D. J. (1990). Adult Age Differences in Attentional Selectivity and Capacity. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 2(3), 229–252. https://doi.org/10.1080/09541449008406206
Madden, D. J. “Adult Age Differences in Attentional Selectivity and Capacity.” European Journal of Cognitive Psychology 2, no. 3 (July 1, 1990): 229–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/09541449008406206.
Madden DJ. Adult Age Differences in Attentional Selectivity and Capacity. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology. 1990 Jul 1;2(3):229–52.
Madden, D. J. “Adult Age Differences in Attentional Selectivity and Capacity.” European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, vol. 2, no. 3, July 1990, pp. 229–52. Scopus, doi:10.1080/09541449008406206.
Madden DJ. Adult Age Differences in Attentional Selectivity and Capacity. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology. 1990 Jul 1;2(3):229–252.

Published In

European Journal of Cognitive Psychology

DOI

EISSN

1464-0635

ISSN

0954-1446

Publication Date

July 1, 1990

Volume

2

Issue

3

Start / End Page

229 / 252

Related Subject Headings

  • Experimental Psychology
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1701 Psychology