Age-related differences in object- and location-based inhibition of returnof attention

Four experiments examined age-related differences in inhibition of return ( IOR) of visual attention. Using static stimuli, both young and older adults were slower to detect targets in previously cued objects, showing equivale nt IOR. With objects that moved after they had been cued, young adults were slower to detect targets in the cued object (compared with uncued ones), r evealing object-based IOR, but older adults were faster to detect targets i n such objects, failing to demonstrate object-based IOR. Both age groups we re slower to detect targets at the initially cued location (location-based IOR). The results show that age has a differential effect on IOR depending on the frame of reference of the inhibition: Inhibition for objects breaks down with age, but that for location does not. This pattern of results is c onsistent with the view that there are specific inhibitory deficits in old age.