VISUAL PROCESSING OF FEATURES AND OBJECTS IN AGING

本课题是关于衰老过程中视觉知觉过程的研究 专注于物体感知。最初的研究将检验 物体知觉的基本机制是否相同 为年轻人和老年人准备的。一项初步研究表明，它们确实存在， 尽管它们在细节上可能有所不同。这项研究将探索两个 细节可能不同的区域。第一个问题是 构成物体的基本知觉要素。 第二个是在这些知觉特征 组合在一起形成对象。 Anne Treisman及其同事Object的调查 年轻人的感知机制提供了很大一部分 所提出的实验的理论和方法。他们的工作 利用了一种基本现象。一种靶向刺激 有一个没有被分散注意力的刺激所共有的特征会从 干扰物，而目标没有唯一的 功能，但它与干扰项共享功能，必须是 以相当大的认知花费寻找 努力。在一组实验中，几种搜索技术 它们将利用“弹出”现象来 找出一些可能会随着年龄增长而变化的特征。其他 一系列实验将重点放在通过哪些功能 组合在一起形成对象。因为人们已经注意到了 对于一些组合过程来说很重要，这些 实验的设计是为了表征这些变化 注意力能力下降很可能会产生。一套这样的 实验将寻找可能减少的数量 可以作为一组进行搜索的项目。一些普遍的知觉 众所周知，组织流程也会影响分组 将要素转换为对象。另一组实验将检验 随着年龄的增长，这些组织过程的稳定性。 最后，其他认知因素也被证明会影响 年轻人的物体知觉。一系列实验将 研究衰老过程中的认知变化是否会改变这些 组织对物体知觉的影响。 拟议的研究计划将有助于确定 老年人在什么程度上以及在什么情况下 物体感知困难。它将有助于识别特殊的 老年人可能处于不利地位的情况。这个 研究还可以有助于制定指导方针 将视觉信息有效地呈现给老年人。

This research project on visual perceptual processes in aging focuses on object perception. The initial research will examine whether the basic mechanisms of object perception are the same for young and old adults. A pilot study suggests that they are, although they may differ in detail. The research will explore two areas in which the detail may differ. The first is the nature of the basic perceptual elements from which objects are formed. The second is in the processes by which those perceptual features are combined to form objects. The investigations of Anne Treisman and coworkers of object perception mechanisms in young adults provides much of the theory and methodology of the proposed experiments. Their work has capitalized on a basic phenomenon. A target stimulus which has a feature not shared by distracting stimuli will "pop out" of the distractors, whereas a target which does not have a unique feature, but which shares features with the distractors, must be searched for with the expenditure of considerable congnitive effort. In one set of experiments, several search techniques which capitalize on the "pop out" phenomenon will be used to identify some features which might change with aging. Others sets of experiments will focus on the processes by which features are combined to form objects. Because attention has been shown to be important to some of the combination processes, these experiments are designed to characterize the changes which reduced attentional capacity is likely to produce. One such set of experiments will look for possible reductions in the number of items which can be searched as a group. Some general perceptual organizational processes are also known to influence the grouping of features into objects. Another set of experiments will examine the stability of those organizational processes with aging. Finally, other cognitive factors have been shown to influence object perception in younger adults. A set of experiments will examine whether cognitive changes in aging modify these organizational influences on object perception. The proposed program of research will help characterize the extent to which and in what circumstances older adults have difficulty with object perception. It will help identify special situations in which older adult may be at a disadvantage. The research can also contribute to the formulation of guidelines for presenting visual information effectively to older adults.