Cautiousness and Visual Selective Attention

Older adults are significantly slower than young adults in the naming response in the Stroop Color Word Interference Test. Hypotheses attempting to explain this age-relFted difference in a perceptual-cognitive task have included orthogenic principle, response-competition, and cautiousness. This study examines whether there azia any significant performance differences on the Stroop test by cautious or "risky " older adults. Participants (N-41) were older adults ranging in age from 55 to 81. All participants were administered the Stroop Test and the Hand Test. In the Stroop Test subjects responded to stimuli by naming a color or color word as fast as possible. Participants were categorized as cautious or risky on the basis of the Hand Test. Analysis did not show slower response time for cautious adults. Data suggested that cautiousness increased with age and was manifested more in terms of fewer errors of commission per unit of time than in speed of response. These findings suggest that risky adults may encode stimulus information repeatedly before retrieving a response and that cautious adults might be slower in encoding information but have a higher probability of retrieving a c'orrect response. (ABL) * Reproductions supplied by EMS are the best that can be made * * from the original document.