Visual Attention in Aging: Bridging Experimental and Psychometric Approaches

描述（由申请人提供）：对认知能力的准确测量是测试衰老心理学理论的关键要求，也是对现实世界中给定人的心理功能做出明智决定的关键要求。注意力过程的缺陷被认为是老年个体高阶认知和功能结果下降的核心潜在因素。然而，令人惊讶的是，很少有人重视心理测量工具的发展，这些工具可以用来评估个体注意力能力的差异。如果没有这些工具，对认知过程及其与年龄或疾病有关的变化的理论和应用评价可能会受到损害。本研究的目的是将实验与心理测量相结合，以改善老年人选择性视觉注意能力的测量。为实现这一目标，提出了三个具体目标：将收集以下方面的经验证据：(1)构成上下文无关和上下文特定视觉搜索任务基础的注意能力的难度成分；(2)构成上下文无关和上下文特定视觉搜索任务基础的注意能力维度；(3)在每个任务中跨能力水平获得的测量精度，以及注意能力与其他认知能力（处理速度、初级记忆和工作记忆、抑制和视觉空间能力）之间的关联程度。解释性潜在特征建模将用于满足这些目标。综上所述，本研究通过对被测对象的能力和被测对象的结构的探索，将有助于更好地理解选择性视觉注意的测量。它还将产生一套先导性的工具，可用于继续探索选择性视觉注意的个体差异。最后，本文提出的心理测量和实验方法的衔接将为未来认知加工领域的类似工作提供一个蓝图。公共卫生相关性：注意能力的个体差异可能与评估老年人许多不同的认知和功能结果相关。取消驾驶特权，安置到辅助护理设施，以及其他类似的问题都是严肃的决定，需要最大限度地精确测量，以尽量减少误诊和错误标签。因此，在认知的理论研究和日常生活中，个体注意力差异是一个重要的因素，需要概念化、测量和探索。如本文所述，将目前未充分利用的心理测量方法成功地纳入认知衰老领域，将极大地提高未来研究工作的有效性，并改善老年人应用环境中的决策。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Accurate measurement of cognitive abilities is a critical requirement for testing psychological theories of aging, as well as for making informed decisions about the mental functioning of a given person in real-world situations. Deficits in attentional processes are thought to be a central underlying factor in the decline of higher-order cognition and functional outcomes in aging individuals. Yet surprisingly little emphasis has been placed on the development of psychometric instruments with which individual differences in attentional abilities can be assessed. Without such instruments, theoretical and applied evaluations of cognitive processes and their age- or disease-related changes may be compromised. The objective of this application is to combine experimental and psychometric approaches in order to improve the measurement of selective visual attention ability in aging individuals. Three specific aims are proposed to accomplish this objective: empirical evidence will be gathered regarding (1) the components of difficulty and (2) dimensionality of attentional ability that underlies both context-free and context-specific visual search tasks, and (3) the precision of measurement obtained across ability levels within each task and the extent to which attentional abilities relate to other cognitive abilities (processing speed, primary and working memory, inhibition, and visuo-spatial ability). Explanatory latent trait modeling will be used to meet these aims. In sum, the work in this proposal will result in a better understanding of the measurement of select visual attention by exploring both the construct to be measured and the abilities of the persons to be measured. It will also result in a precursory set of instruments that can be used to continue exploring individual differences in selective visual attention. Finally, the bridging of psychometric and experimental methods as proposed here will serve as a blueprint for future similar work in other areas of cognitive processing. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Individual differences in attentional abilities are likely to be relevant in evaluating many different cognitive and functional outcomes in aging individuals. The removal of driving privileges, placement into assisted care facilities, and other similar concerns are serious decisions that require the utmost precision of measurement in order to minimize mis-diagnosis and mis-labeling. Thus, individual differences in attention represent an important factor to be conceptualized, measured, and explored in the context of both theoretical examinations of cognition and in everyday life. The successful incorporation of currently under-utilized psychometric methods within the domain of cognitive aging as outlined in this proposal will greatly improve the validity of future research endeavors, as well as lead to improved decision-making in applied settings with aging individuals.