Search

This article discusses the potential impact of new media on older adults. It outlines trends in population aging and in the use of computers and the Internet. The potential demands of new media on older adults are characterized, and physical and psychological changes in older adults that may affect new media use are briefly reviewed. Finally, the article provides design suggestions that may help attenuate the effects of aging on access to new media. Keywords: human factors; technology; aging; communication; cognition

INTRODUCTION Computer systems are ubiquitous in work environments and are becoming so in homes. Although approximately 51% of households in the United States reported having a computer system as of […], We contrasted performance with mouse and light pen input devices for younger, middle-aged, and older adults (N = 72) who were experienced mouse users. Participants used both preferred and nonpreferred hands to perform a menu target selection task. The light pen minimized age differences in performance relative to the mouse. Older adults were more lateralized on a handedness test than young adults and were less efficient using their nonpreferred hand. With practice, older adults improved their response time more than other age groups did. The mouse was rated as more acceptable and easier to use than the light pen across trials, despite the performance advantage of the light pen for all age groups. Usability ratings correlated moderately with performance. A benefit-cost analysis indicated that the more efficient light pen might cover its greater initial cost with in 11 months for an older adult and within 23 months for a younger adult. Actual or potential applications of this research include advising older adults to persist with practice for new input devices, advising those who must switch to their non preferred hand to select a direct positioning device, and providing a methodology for determining the potential payback interval when switching to a faster, though more expensive, input device.

A study of age differences in direct and indirect cued recall tests for the retrieval of implicit information in young and old adults revealed age differences due to the impact of target and cue set size and due to the type of test instruction. Compared to the second test, targets in the first test were significantly related to their cues. The direct test provided cues to enable the retrieval of the studied word, whereas the indirect test dealt with related words.