An analysis of age and informational load in Type II tasks

Abstract

A cyclical combined manual and decision task was examined at an elemental level to determine the effects of task difficulty and informational load upon task performance. The index of difficulty as a measure of task difficulty and the uncertainty in task information as a measure of informational load were varied. Ten young and ten older industrial workers participated in the study. Performance, decision and movement times were measured. It appears that a high information load affects to delay the decision processes of the older worker.