The Effects of Practice and External Support on Older Adults' Control of Reflexive Eye Movements

ABSTRACT

The present study examined whether external support and practice could reduce age differences in oculomotor control. Participants were to avoid fixating an abrupt onset and on some trials, were provided with a predictive cue regarding the onset location or identity. Older adults demonstrated more capture than younger adults, but both groups improved with practice. Whereas the older group benefited from a location preview (Experiment 1), neither group showed less capture when given a preview of the onset object itself (Experiment 2), suggesting that location-based inhibition, but not object-based inhibition, was sufficient to support oculomotor control within this paradigm. To test the generalizability of these skills, displays in a final block were manipulated such that the onset could appear in a different location or be a different object altogether. Viewing patterns were similar for changed vs. unchanged displays, suggesting that participants' practice-related gains could withstand a change in the task materials.

Keywords:

• Aging
• Inhibition
• Oculomotor capture
• Memory
• Practice

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to thank Christina Villate, Tanvi Sharan, and Jessica Taylor for assistance with stimuli creation and data collection. This work was supported by funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Canada Research Chairs Program awarded to JDR.

Notes

¹The age by block interaction remained significant after a logarithmic transformation was applied to the duration of viewing measure, F(1, 46) = 26.23, p < .001, partial η² = .36, suggesting that the interaction was not driven by general age-related slowing alone (e.g., Cerella, 1985).

²This interaction was also significant for the log-transformed data, F(2, 92) = 9.83, p < .001, partial η² = .18.