AGE-DIFFERENCES IN LEARNING AND THE QUESTION OF PREEXPERIMENTAL INTERFERENCE

Although previous research has revealed a consistent finding of an int eraction between age and incongruent information, the exact cause of t his age difference in relation to preexperimental interference has not been identified due to methodological oversights in the existing lite rature. That is, it is unclear whether the cause of the age difference in learning is the incongruity of the new information with prior know ledge or simply the amount of new information that is presented. To ov ercome previous problems, this study separated the effects of congruit y and amount of new information. The participants consisted of 50 olde r and 50 younger adults who possessed varied levels of familiarity wit h a standard keyboard as determined by a pretest. Participants were th en presented with a new keyboard format (Dvorak) and performed three t yping trials. The results revealed a significant main effect for age, such that the older participants performed worse than the younger part icipants on, the new keyboard. However, there was no interaction betwe en familiarity and age. This study provides support for Welford's (195 8) theory that it is the amount of the new information, and not the pr eexperimental interference that accounts for the age difference in, le arning.