The influence of interruptions and planning on serial everyday multitasking in older adults.

IF 1.6 4区心理学 Q3 PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL

Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition Pub Date : 2024-05-01 Epub Date: 2023-05-15 DOI:10.1080/13825585.2023.2210814

Sarah E MacPherson, Vairi A W Gilmour

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Abstract

Cognitive aging research has studied the influence of healthy aging on the ability to multitask. Yet, little is known about the factors that might improve or impair serial multitasking performance in older adults. Three experiments involving younger and older adults assessed the impact of interruptions and planning on a prop-based test of multitasking. In Experiment 1, 26 younger adults and 25 older adults' multitasking abilities were assessed; older adults performed significantly more poorly than younger adults. In Experiment 2, 19 younger and 22 older adults were randomly allocated to a group who experienced a one minute unexpected interruption while multitasking or a group with no interruption. The results showed that, when there was an interruption, the age difference disappeared. In Experiment 3, 32 younger and 30 older adults were randomly allocated to a group who were given 3 minutes to write an outline describing how they intended to approach the multitasking task, and another group who were given 3 minutes to label pictures of everyday objects prior to multitasking. Again, when participants were encouraged to plan, no age difference was found. These results highlight the advantage that interruptions and planning might have on serial everyday multitasking performance in older adults.

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中断和计划对老年人连续日常多任务处理的影响。

认知老化研究已经对健康老化对多任务处理能力的影响进行了研究。然而，人们对可能提高或损害老年人连续多任务处理能力的因素知之甚少。由年轻人和老年人参与的三项实验评估了中断和计划对基于道具的多任务测试的影响。在实验 1 中，对 26 名年轻人和 25 名老年人的多任务处理能力进行了评估；老年人的多任务处理能力明显比年轻人差。在实验 2 中，19 名年轻人和 22 名老年人被随机分配到在进行多任务处理时遇到一分钟意外中断的一组和没有中断的一组。结果显示，当出现中断时，年龄差异消失了。在实验 3 中，32 名年轻人和 30 名老年人被随机分配到一组，让他们在 3 分钟内写出一份提纲，说明他们打算如何处理多任务，另一组则让他们在多任务处理前用 3 分钟标出日常物品的图片。同样，当鼓励参与者制定计划时，没有发现年龄差异。这些结果凸显了中断和计划可能对老年人日常连续多任务处理表现的优势。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition Multiple-

CiteScore

4.30

自引率

5.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： The purposes of Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition are to (a) publish research on both the normal and dysfunctional aspects of cognitive development in adulthood and aging, and (b) promote the integration of theories, methods, and research findings between the fields of cognitive gerontology and neuropsychology. The primary emphasis of the journal is to publish original empirical research. Occasionally, theoretical or methodological papers, critical reviews of a content area, or theoretically relevant case studies will also be published.