ADULT AGE-DIFFERENCES IN SHIFTING FOCUSED ATTENTION

Young and older adults performed a choice response task in which 1 of 2 target letters was presented visually at 1 of 4 display locations. I n 2 experiments, the validity of a target location cue and the presenc e of nontarget characters (distracters) were varied. With target-only displays and 40% cue validity (Experiment 1), the estimated time to sh ift attention between display locations was essentially 0 ms for both age groups. With 70% cue validity, Experiment 2 demonstrated significa nt increases in the attention shift time as a function of both increas ed age and the presence of distractors (asterisks). The results sugges t that age-related changes in the shifting of focused attention are mi nimal except when the processing of nontarget information is required.