Ian Stuart-Hamilton

Website design attributes for retrieving health information by older adults: an application of architectural criteria

The objectives of this research were to identify design attributes to develop easy-to-use websites for older adults. Forty-one males and 58 females (age range 58–90) were asked to retrieve information on a health-related topic from the NHS Direct and Medicdirect websites, and were asked to fill in a website evaluation questionnaire. An exploratory factor analysis of data identified navigation/search usability, link usability, usefulness and colour as important dimensions of a senior-friendly website. A two-stage, three-component regression model with these dimensions as predictor variables and the satisfaction level in using a website as the dependent variable has been proposed.

Website task performance by older adults

The present study examined influences of fluid intelligence and website experience on a website task by 99 community-dwelling older adults (41 males, 58 females, age range 58 – 90 years) who were screened for visual acuity and major health problems. They were divided into three groups, dependent on their prior website experience (19 with no prior website experience, 55 with low website experience and 25 with high website experience). Perpendicular to this, the participants were divided into low- and high-fluid intelligence groups and into young – old and old – old age groups. Participants performed a website information retrieval task using three health information websites. Performance was assessed by the time taken to retrieve target information. Overall, the three websites significantly differed in the time taken to locate the target information. The website task performance was not significantly influenced by fluid intelligence score or age, but there was a significant influence by prior website experience.

AGE‐RELATED DECLINE IN SPELLING ABILITY: A LINK WITH FLUID INTELLIGENCE?

In this study, 159 volunteers aged 50 years and older were grouped into age decades (i.e., those in their 50s, 60s, etc.) and tested on measures of spelling, fluid intelligence, and crystallized intelligence. The younger subjects had significantly higher spelling test scores. Statistically removing the effects of crystallized intelligence and length of education by analyses of covariance had no effect on the difference, but removing the effect of fluid intelligence reduced the difference to nonsignificant levels. This implies that in older people spelling, although intuitively considered to be a crystallized skill, relies heavily on fluid intelligence.

The meaning of life: Animism in the classificatory skills of older adults

Seventy-five participants aged from their teens to their seventies were measured on a battery of measures of personality, lifestyle, intelligence, and educational background. These measures were gauged against performance on a measure of animism, in which participants judged twenty-three items (4 alive, 19 non-living) as living or non-living. Although animism errors increased with age, all groups displayed animism errors, thereby contradicting Piaget (1965). Performance is partially explained by fluid intelligence level, but is more plausibly ascribed to progressive loss of what is essentially peripheral information to non-academic people.

Intelligence, Belief in the Paranormal, Knowledge of Probability and Aging

ABSTRACT In young adults, preparedness to accept improbable events as planned rather than due to chance is predictive of the level of belief in the paranormal, possibly underpinned by lower intelligence levels (Musch and Ehrenberg, 2002). The present study, using a sample of 73 older participants aged 60–84 years failed to find any relationship between age, intelligence, probability knowledge, and belief in the paranormal. The findings further question the assumptions that studies on knowledge and belief in younger adults can be unquestioningly transposed onto older adults. An explanatory model of the findings is presented.

ATTITUDES TO AGING QUESTIONNAIRES: SOME EVIDENCE FOR POTENTIAL BIAS IN THEIR DESIGN

Questionnaires on attitudes to aging may contain tacit sources of negative bias by inviting judgments not just on aging but on physical and economic welfare. In the present study, attitudes were assessed after participants (89 psychology first-year undergraduates, mean age 25.55 yrs, SD 9.11) had been asked either a set of 5 neutral questions, 5 questions on economic welfare of older people, or 5 questions on the physical frailty of older people. The economic questions group had significantly more negative views of mental aspects of aging than did the neutral group. The implications of this finding are discussed.

Changes in Reliance on Reading and Spelling Subskills Across the Lifespan

There is considerable evidence of the importance of phonological skills in reading and spelling in children. However, there is a paucity of studies regarding their position in younger or later adulthood reading where intellectual skills are usually seen in terms of their relationship with general intelligence. In the current study, children and younger and older adults matched for fluid intelligence were compared on measures of phonological processing, fluid intelligence and reading, and spelling. In children and younger adults, the best predictors of reading and spelling were phonological skills. In older adults, the best predictors were fluid intelligence and chronological age. Reasons for this are discussed, but they probably reflect the increasing effects of general ageing changes affecting a broad spectrum of abilities. In spite of these considerations, older adults maintained the same general reading and spelling abilities as younger adults, indicating powerful compensation skills.

THE DECLINE OF EYE‐VOICE SPAN IN ELDERLY READERS

The performances of three age groups (50‐, 60‐, and 70‐year‐olds) were compared on an eye‐voice span (EVS) task, and their performance was related to eyesight, intelligence (fluid and crystallized), education level, and quality and quantity of reading experience. There was a significant age‐related quantitative decline in EVS, but no qualitative change. This decline could not be completely accounted for by any of the other variables, lending credence to a theory of a general aging effect. The finding that a decline in EVS was not reflected in a change in reading speed indicates a possible compensatory mechanism. Implications of the findings are discussed.

AGING AND THE BRIDGES OF KONIGSBERG PROBLEM: NO AGE CHANGES IN PERSEVERANCE

It is well documented that the ability to sustain attention at a task is well preserved in later life, with little or no decrement in performance. However, the ability of non‐clinical subjects to persevere at a problem‐solving task has received less attention. In the experiment reported here, older volunteers tried to solve the Bridges of Konigsberg problem (a topological exercise that is impossible to solve). No age difference was found in time spent on the task, nor was performance related to other “benchmark” variables, such as IQ test performance or length of education. Reasons for this, and the implications of the findings for educational gerontology, are discussed.

Abnormalities in Pattern of Lateralization in Relation to Visuospatial Short Term Memory in Children with Williams Syndrome

Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic disorder characterised by significant intellectual disability. Initial studies indicate that children with WS have a profound bias for information in the top left of visual arrays. Study 1, using a visuospatial memory test for items presented in a matrix, found a significant top left bias in WS children relative to controls. Study 2 used a probe-based memory test with arrays in which items appeared with equal probability in each position. Relative to controls, WS children showed a significant top and left bias. In Study 3, the same children engaged in a visual search task and again, a top and left bias was found in the WS group. It is concluded that children with WS display atypical laterality, which might be explained by abnormal saccadic movements, by abnormalities involving development of the dorsal stream or by uneven cortical development.