Age effects on controlling tools with sensorimotor transformations
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In: Frontiers in Psychology, Vol. 3, No. DEC, Article 573, 24.12.2012, p. 1-8.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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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 -