The Model Human Processor and the Older Adult: Parameter Estimation and Validation Within a Mobile Phone Task

This article reports on a study undertaken to formalize the description of the cognitive and psychomotor performance of older adults, so that the gap between the cognitive aging and human engineering design fields may be bridged. The research was also conducted with the goal of establishing and validating parameters for measuring cognitive and psychomotor performance. The authors estimated weighted mean values for nine information processing parameters for older adults using the Card, Moran, and Newell (1983) Model Human Processor model. The study used two mobile phone tasks using two different phones and comparing model predictions to a sample of younger (n = 20 with a mean age of 20 years) and older (n = 20, with a mean age of 69 years) adults. Older adult models fit keystroke-level performance at the aggregate grain of analysis extremely well and produced equivalent fits to previously validated younger adult models. Close examination of task analyses for younger and older users also illuminated portions of critical pathways that made performance more sluggish or more error-prone. The authors analyses highlighted points of poor design as a function of cognitive workload, hardware/software design, and user characteristics. The authors conclude that these information processing parameters are valid for modeling purposes, can help designers understand age-related performance using existing interfaces, and may enable the development of age-sensitive technologies. They support the use of predictive models to simulate trained users as a way to test design specifications without building prototypes or training and testing users.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/1086898X
• Authors:
  • Jastrzembski, Tiffany S
  • Charness, Neil
• Publication Date: 2007-12

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 224-248
• Serial:
  • Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied
  • Volume: 13
  • Issue Number: 4
  • Publisher: American Psychological Association
  • ISSN: 1076-898X
  • EISSN: 1939-2192
  • Serial URL: http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/xap/index.aspx

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged drivers; Aging (Biology); Cellular telephones; Cognition; Design engineering; Equipment; Human factors engineering; Simulation; Structural models
• Uncontrolled Terms: Psychomotor function
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01121893
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 17 2009 12:31PM