TY - JOUR

T1 - Age effects on controlling tools with sensorimotor transformations

AU - Sutter, Christine

AU - Ladwig, Stefan

AU - Oehl, Michael

AU - Müsseler, Jochen

N1 - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Project 75322601

PY - 2012/12/24

Y1 - 2012/12/24

N2 - Controlling tools in technical environments bears a lot of challenges for the human information processing system, as locations of tool manipulation and effect appearance are spatially separated, and distal action effects are often not generated in a 1:1 manner. In this study we investigated the susceptibility of older adults to distal action effects. Younger and older participants performed a Fitts’ task on a digitizer tablet without seeing their hand and the tablet directly. Visual feedback was presented on a display in that way, that cursor amplitude and visual target size varied while the pre-determined hand amplitude remained constant. In accordance with distal action effects being predominant in controlling tool actions we found an increase in hand movement times and perceptual errors as a function of visual task characteristics. Middle-aged adults more intensely relied on visual feedback than younger adults. Age-related differences in speed-accuracy trade-off are not likely to account for this finding. However, it is well known that proprioceptive acuity declines with age. This might be one reason for middle-aged adults to stronger rely on the visual information instead of the proprioceptive information. Consequently, design and application of tools for elderly should account for this.

AB - Controlling tools in technical environments bears a lot of challenges for the human information processing system, as locations of tool manipulation and effect appearance are spatially separated, and distal action effects are often not generated in a 1:1 manner. In this study we investigated the susceptibility of older adults to distal action effects. Younger and older participants performed a Fitts’ task on a digitizer tablet without seeing their hand and the tablet directly. Visual feedback was presented on a display in that way, that cursor amplitude and visual target size varied while the pre-determined hand amplitude remained constant. In accordance with distal action effects being predominant in controlling tool actions we found an increase in hand movement times and perceptual errors as a function of visual task characteristics. Middle-aged adults more intensely relied on visual feedback than younger adults. Age-related differences in speed-accuracy trade-off are not likely to account for this finding. However, it is well known that proprioceptive acuity declines with age. This might be one reason for middle-aged adults to stronger rely on the visual information instead of the proprioceptive information. Consequently, design and application of tools for elderly should account for this.

KW - Business psychology

KW - Distal action effect

KW - Ideomotor principle

KW - Perception

KW - Proprioception

KW - Proximal action effect

KW - Sensory integration

KW - Tool use

KW - Vision

KW - Distal action effect

KW - Ideomotor principle

KW - Perception

KW - Proprioception

KW - Proximal action effect

KW - Sensory integration

KW - Tool use

KW - Psychology

KW - Ergonomics

KW - Human-computer interaction

KW - Vision

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84874579730&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/1a9d7a54-0323-316a-8be4-45c7401a2b9a/

U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00573

DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00573

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 23293617

VL - 3

SP - 1

EP - 8

JO - Frontiers in Psychology

JF - Frontiers in Psychology

SN - 1664-1078

IS - DEC

M1 - Article 573

ER -