The Effect of Aging on Visual Attention Shifting in Collaborative Document Editing

Many tasks, including driving, require frequent shifts in visual attention. Some visual shifting of attention is due to distraction from a secondary task, or from non-task relevant stimuli in the environment. Older people (e.g. over 60) are generally slower to react to stimuli and less skillful in learning to use new technologies. In this paper we are interested in studying the effect of age on the ability to shift visual attention in a task that involves computer use. An experiment is reported involving 10 participants, five who were over the age of 60 and five who were in their twenties and thirties. A collaborative editing task was carried out where participants, run one at a time, had to edit a document in real-time based on comments made by three research assistants (who were not participants for purposes of data collection). In one condition participants had to constantly shift their visual attention from a desktop computer they were using to a large shared screen where the research assistants made editing suggestions and used a laser pointer to indicate which part of the document (shown on the large shared screen) they were referring to. As expected, time to perform each editing task increased in the two-screen (vs. one screen) condition. However, the amount of slowing due to the use of two screens for the task was considerably greater for the older group. The results are interpreted in terms of the use of redesigned tools and technologies to assist older workers perform more effectively.