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Aging and the speed/accuracy relation in visual search: evidence for an accumulator model.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Madden, DJ; Allen, PA
Published in: Optom Vis Sci
March 1995

Two models of performance in visual classification tasks, the fast-guess model and the accumulator model, offer contrasting accounts of the relation between speed and accuracy. We attempted to distinguish these models in the context of age-related changes in visual search performance. Twenty-four young adults (mean age 21.50 years) and 24 older adults (mean age 66.17 years) performed a visual search task requiring the detection of an upright L among rotated L's. The results supported the accumulator model, in that mean reaction time (RT) was higher for error responses than for correct responses, and there was a positive relation between RT and error rate. Both of these effects were more pronounced for older adults than for young adults, even when visual acuity was covaried statistically. We conclude that age-related changes in visual search performance involve a decline in the efficiency of sampling the amount of evidence necessary to exceed a decision criterion.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Optom Vis Sci

DOI

ISSN

1040-5488

Publication Date

March 1995

Volume

72

Issue

3

Start / End Page

210 / 216

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Visual Perception
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Reaction Time
  • Ophthalmology & Optometry
  • Models, Biological
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Aging
 

Citation

APA
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ICMJE
MLA
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Madden, D. J., & Allen, P. A. (1995). Aging and the speed/accuracy relation in visual search: evidence for an accumulator model. Optom Vis Sci, 72(3), 210–216. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006324-199503000-00010
Madden, D. J., and P. A. Allen. “Aging and the speed/accuracy relation in visual search: evidence for an accumulator model.Optom Vis Sci 72, no. 3 (March 1995): 210–16. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006324-199503000-00010.
Madden DJ, Allen PA. Aging and the speed/accuracy relation in visual search: evidence for an accumulator model. Optom Vis Sci. 1995 Mar;72(3):210–6.
Madden, D. J., and P. A. Allen. “Aging and the speed/accuracy relation in visual search: evidence for an accumulator model.Optom Vis Sci, vol. 72, no. 3, Mar. 1995, pp. 210–16. Pubmed, doi:10.1097/00006324-199503000-00010.
Madden DJ, Allen PA. Aging and the speed/accuracy relation in visual search: evidence for an accumulator model. Optom Vis Sci. 1995 Mar;72(3):210–216.

Published In

Optom Vis Sci

DOI

ISSN

1040-5488

Publication Date

March 1995

Volume

72

Issue

3

Start / End Page

210 / 216

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Visual Perception
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Reaction Time
  • Ophthalmology & Optometry
  • Models, Biological
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Aging