Attention and Aging: A Functional Perspective
Document Type
Book Chapter - Merrimack Access Only
Edition
2nd Edition
Editor
Fergus I.M. Craik
Timothy A. Salthouse
Publication Title
Handbook of Aging and Cognition
Publisher
Erlbaum
Publication Date
2000
Publisher location
Mahwah, NJ
Abstract/ Summary
In the psychologist's search for the cause of age-related cognitive changes, there is frequently an expectation that there will be a single underlying mechanism responsible for many, if not all, observable developmental changes. Age-related changes in attention have been cited as the basis for a variety of age-related behavioral inefficiencies and have been the focus of both empirical and theoretical work designed to understand these inefficiencies. The goal of the present chapter is to review data related to age differences in attentional competence (primarily for those data that have been published since the previous edition of the handbook; see Hartley, 1992), to discuss the functional consequences of such differences, and to consider the theoretical constructs hypothesized to account for the findings.
Repository Citation
McDowd, J. C.,
&
Shaw, R. J.
(2000). Attention and Aging: A Functional Perspective. Handbook of Aging and Cognition, 221-292.
Available at: https://scholarworks.merrimack.edu/psy_facpub/13