Biomedical subjects

A D Fisk

Publications and source records attributed to A D Fisk.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1996

Aging and individual differences in the development of skilled memory search performance.

We examined individual differences in measures of multiple intellectual abilities and performance on a pure memory search task over 5 experimental sessions. Old (n = 104) and young (n = 97) participants showed expected patterns of substantial improvement in memory search intercepts and slopes in consistently mapped (CM) conditions, relative to varied mapping (VM) conditions. Initial (unskilled) CM and VM memory search was highly correlated with a Semantic Memory Access Speed factor and moderately correlated with General Intelligence. Structural equation models showed that measures of Semantic Memory Access remained a strong predictor of skilled CM search performance in both age groups despite individual differences in CM memory search performance changes. These results indicate qualitative differences in the nature of automaticity between memory search and visual search and suggest age invariance in the mechanisms determining automaticity in memory search.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

Supporting perception in the service of dynamic decision making.

Skilled performers in complex environments rely heavily on heuristic strategies to cope with the time pressure and complexity of dynamic tasks. We suggest that the use of task simplification strategies based largely on perception and pattern recognition is fundamental to the novice-expert shift in dynamic decision making. We therefore suggest that interface training interventions should support the development of highly effective and robust heuristic strategies, rather than the development of more abstract, cognitively intensive strategies. A pair of empirical studies are presented that investigated the benefits of training interventions aimed at supporting perceptual and pattern-recognitional activities in dynamic environments. Results suggest that the acquisition of skilled performance in dynamic environments can be accelerated by supporting perceptual activities in the service of dynamic decision making. Implications of these results for training, aiding, and interface design are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Training older adults to use automatic teller machines.

The present study assessed the success of several instructional programs in teaching the use of automatic teller machines (ATMs). Fifty-six older adults (aged 61 to 81) participated in the study, randomly assigned to each of four, 14-member groups. The description group received only a general overview of an ATM; the text guide group received written instructions for performing various transactions on an ATM; the pictorial guide group received written instructions accompanied by pictures of corresponding ATM screens; and the online tutorial group completed a step-by-step tutorial on a simulated ATM. Participants practiced on an ATM simulator. They were tested after a 24-h interval on their ability to perform familiar transactions on an unfamiliar ATM simulator and to perform completely novel transactions. Accuracy was best for the online tutorial group, intermediate for the text and pictorial guide groups, and worst for the description group. These data demonstrate both the importance of providing older adults with ATM training and the fact that the type of training influences the level of performance. The online tutorial, which provided specific practice on the task components, best facilitated acquisition and transfer performance.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1996

A survey of automatic teller machine usage across the adult life span.

The purpose of this study was to analyze automatic teller machine (ATM) usage across the adult life span. We conducted an extensive survey of 9000 people in the Memphis and Atlanta metropolitan areas. Approximately 17% of those people responded. The survey assessed detailed demographic information, experience with technology in general, experience specifically related to ATMs, problems and dislikes with ATMs, and reasons that people do not use ATMs. The survey provided a valuable set of data. First, we have detailed information about the demographics and individual characteristics of ATM users and nonusers; importantly, these data are stratified across the adult life span. In addition, we know the likes and dislikes of ATM users and the types of problems they typically have using ATMs. Moreover, we have detailed analysis of why adults of all ages may choose not to use ATMs. Training and design implications of these data are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1995

Understanding performance and learning in consistent memory search: an age-related perspective.

This study was conducted to investigate learning in memory search tasks. Young and old participants were trained for 5,640 trials of consistent mapping (CM) and varied mapping (VM) memory search. After training, participants were transferred into New CM and CM Reversal conditions. During training, both young and old adults improved reaction time performance, with more rapid improvement for the young adults. In CM training, both age groups achieved zero comparison slopes, indicating automaticity in CM memory search. VM training maintained a large age-related difference in search times. Age did not moderate the transfer effects, suggesting similar learning mechanisms were responsible for the original CM training gains in both age groups; however, transfer effects were different for CM Reversal and New CM. The pattern of transfer data argues against several possible mechanisms for automaticity in memory search. The data are most compatible with a hypothesis of memory-set unitization as the locus of automaticity in memory search.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1995

Age-related retention of skilled memory search: examination of associative learning, interference, and task-specific skills.

Young and older adults performed skilled memory search after either a 3- or 6-month retention interval. Participants were first trained in consistent-mapping (CM) memory search; then, one of the search conditions was subjected to interfering processing activity prior to the retention interval. Retention testing simultaneously examined situations where interfering processing activity either did or did not intervene between original learning and retention testing. In addition, general task-specific learning was assessed. Results indicate that (a) old and young adults equally retained general, task-specific skills; (b) old adults' performance declined more than young adults' performance for trained CM stimuli; (c) when an interfering processing activity was inserted prior to the retention interval, old adults' performance declined disproportionately more than young adults' performance, especially when compared to the task not subjected to such interference; and (d) for both old and young adults all initial retention deficits were quickly eliminated within retention retraining.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Do ability-performance relationships differentiate age and practice effects in visual search?

Relationships between abilities and performance in visual search were investigated for young and old adults. Ss received extensive practice on category search task. A consistent version allowed development of an automatic attention response; a varied version allowed general performance improvements. Transfer conditions assessed learning. General ability, induction, semantic knowledge, working memory, perceptual speed, semantic memory access, and psychomotor speed were assessed. LISREL models revealed that general ability and semantic memory access predicted initial performance for both ages. Improvements on both the consistent and varied tasks were predicted by perceptual speed. Ability-performance relationships indexed performance changes but were not predictive of learning (i.e., automatic process vs. general efficiency). Qualitative differences in the ability-transfer models suggest age differences in learning.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Long-term retention of skilled visual search: do young adults retain more than old adults?

Young and old Ss received extensive consistent-mapping visual search practice (3,000 trials). The Ss returned to the laboratory following a 16-month retention interval. Retention of skilled visual search was assessed using the trained stimuli (assessment of retention of stimulus-specific learning) and using new stimuli (assessment of retention of task-specific learning). All Ss, regardless of age group, demonstrated impressive retention. However, age-related retention differences favoring the young were observed when retention of stimulus-specific learning was assessed. No age-related retention differences were observed when task-specific learning was assessed. The data suggest that age-related retention capabilities depend on the type of learning assessed.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Brinley plots and theories of aging: the explicit, muddled, and implicit debates.

We evaluated the debates concerning Brinley plots and the associated theories of age-related slowing. We concluded that an explicit debate regarding a single-factor, general slowing model was no longer a debate as most, if not all, agree to the disconfirmation of that model. We address sources of confusion in the debates that have muddled the areas of genuine disagreement. When the confusion is lifted, the remaining debate centers, rightly, on evaluation of theories of aging. We show that Brinley plot analyses can lead to both falsely accepting and falsely rejecting theories of age-related slowing. Although plotting data most certainly can assist with the evaluation of cognitive theory, we argue that models of performance and learning must play a more central role in advancing theories of cognitive aging.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Disruption and maintenance of skilled visual search as a function of degree of consistency.

The present experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of varying degrees of task consistency on the performance and maintenance of skill in a semantic-category visual search task. Four groups of participants first received 6000 trials of consistent mapping (CM) training on two different categories. The participants then performed 4000 trials in which one of the previously trained categories remained 100% consistent, whereas the other previously trained category became either 100%, 67%, 50%, or 33% consistent. This second phase of the experiment allowed for the examination of disruption of the search skill as a function of degree of consistency. Subsequent to the degree of consistency manipulation, 100% consistency was restored and participants performed another 4200 CM trials. Results indicate that performance was disrupted by inconsistency and that disruption increased as consistency decreased. On the return of task consistency, performance improved rapidly to predisruption levels, though some performance disruption was evident. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

General slowing alone cannot explain age-related search effects: reply to Cerella (1991)

Cerella (1991) has argued that the performance of older adults in the Fisk and Rogers (1991) study is a linear function of the performance of younger adults that is independent of task-specific cognitive requirements. We demonstrate that this is not the case. First, we show that the scatter plot analyses used by Cerella can hide the very task-specific age-related slowing they were designed to reveal. Second, we demonstrate that the percentage of variance explained by such analyses can be misleading. Third, we show that there are reliable differences across tasks in the parameters relating younger and older adults' performance. Finally, we argue that the general, task-independent proportionate slowing that Cerella suggested explains so much of the variance in age-related performance is actually an average slowing that is a function of a relatively small task-independent and a relatively large task-dependent factor.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Retention of trained performance in consistent mapping search after extended delay.

We examined the retention of performance in memory, visual, and hybrid memory/visual search after subjects received extensive consistent mapping (CM) practice. In the first two experiments we examined retention of detection performance in memory scanning (Experiment 1) and in visual search (Experiment 2) approximately one month after training. In the third experiment we examined performance 1, 30, 90, 180, and 365 days following training on pure visual and hybrid memory/visual semantic-category search tasks. We examined retention at intervals up to one year after practice as a function of amount of CM practice. In addition, we assessed the degree of category activation (performance on untrained words from the trained categories) at each retention interval. Across experiments, we found no decay in CM trained memory search and minimal decay in pure visual search. Significant decline in CM performance was largely attributable to performance in the hybrid memory/visual search conditions. These data reconcile previously equivocal retention results for CM trained search performance.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Are age differences in consistent-mapping visual search due to feature learning or attention training?

In this experiment, the ability of young and old adults to differentially modify the attention-attraction strength of targets and distractors relative to feature differentiation was examined. Eight young and 8 old subjects were trained for 8,000 trials in conditions that allowed maximal target-distractor strength differentiation, inhibited target-distractor strength differentiation but facilitated feature differentiation, or inhibited both target-distractor strength differentiation and feature differentiation. Age-related performance was assessed between and within conditions during training and with reversal conditions where the roles of targets and distractors were switched. The pattern of data during training and at reversal supports the proposal that age differences in extended-practice visual search are due to differences in the ability to differentially strengthen targets and distractors.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Toward an understanding of age-related memory and visual search effects.

Young and old Ss were tested in 3 experiments conducted to explore factors leading to age-related performance differences in consistent mapping (CM) and varied mapping (VM) search tasks. The separate and combined influences of memory scanning and visual search on age-related search effects were examined. In both CM letter and CM semantic category search, age interacted with comparison load in visual and hybrid memory-visual search conditions, whereas differential age effects were not present in pure memory search. For VM search, age effects were present only in pure memory search. These data support the view that the separation of type of search training (CM and VM) as well as memory and visual search components is critical for predicting age-related performance differences. The dissociation of the pattern of age effects in memory and visual search suggests that memory and visual search involve different processing mechanisms.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Age-related differences in the maintenance and modification of automatic processes: arithmetic Stroop interference.

This experiment was designed to investigate whether well-learned "automatic" processes remain stable as a function of age, as well as to determine whether the ability to modify these automatic processes is disrupted for older adults. We used an arithmetic Stroop task to measure the stability of an automatic process. Nineteen young (mean age 22) and 19 old (mean age 75) adults participated in three experimental sessions, each of which consisted of 15 blocks of 30 trials. Although the young subjects had faster verification times overall than did the old adults, both young and old subjects showed significant interference effects. For the young adults, there was a decrease in the interference effect with practice, which suggested that they were learning to inhibit the automatic process of performing the arithmetical operation. However, the old adults showed no significant decrease in the associative interference effects. This implies that the older adults were impaired in their ability to inhibit automatic processes, even when those processes interfered with performance. Theoretical and practical training implications are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Recombination of automatic processing components: the effects of transfer, reversal, and conflict situations.

This research was conducted to evaluate the effects of compatible and incompatible automatic processes on performance. Subjects were trained for 8400 trials of consistent mapping practice in a semantic category visual search task and then transferred for 2352 trials to conditions that utilized the trained component processes in various ways. Results indicate that if the components were reused in a compatible fashion (target and distractor transfer), there was positive transfer. Target and distractor reversal resulted in equivalent and severe performance disruption that persisted for the entire retraining period. Target conflict produced disruption equivalent to the reversal conditions. Distractor conflict resulted in less initial disruption, which dissipated before the end of the retraining period. The results are discussed in terms of agreement with strength-theoretic views of visual search and in terms of practical training and retraining issues.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

A cognitive engineering approach to improving signalized left turn intersections.

This research evaluated the effect of providing advanced left turn information to individuals faced with deciding whether or not it is safe to turn at a signalized intersection. Younger (mean age 37 years) and older (mean age 71 years) drivers were tested in simulations of approaching an intersection with and without advanced cueing. Experiment 1 used a featureless background; Experiment 2 used an animated presentation of traffic control displays. In both experiments the subjects had to determine whether or not they had right-of-way to make a left turn. Exaggerated error rates and increased decision latencies for displays conveying unprotected turn status occurred in both studies. Cueing drivers with advanced notice of the decision rule through a redundant upstream posting of sign elements improved both accuracy and latency of younger and older drivers' decisions.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

Consistent and varied memory/visual search: is there an interaction between age and response-set effects?

Interactions of stimulus consistency and response-set were examined after extensive consistent (CM) and varied mapping (VM) practice for young (mean age 20) and old (mean age 74) adults. The experiment examined whether reduced response complexity would lead to equivalent consistent mapping search performance across age groups. Subjects received 2,240 training trials each for CM and VM versions of a hybrid memory/visual search task. During training two response conditions were used: (1) respond only when a target was present (Yes-only responding) and (2) respond only when a target was absent (No-only responding). Following initial training, subjects were transferred to the opposite response condition. During training the function relating reaction time to memory-set size differed between age groups only with CM practice, replicating age-related effects previously found for extensive CM practice. Response reversal (e.g., Yes-only to No-only) after training led to age-related transfer effects for both CM and VM search. Importantly, the transfer data suggest age-dependent controlled processing effects.

Adolescent↗