The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between force control and cognitive performance under dual-task conditions in younger (18-22 years) and older adults (65-77 years). Cognitive (n-back test) and motor performance (force-tracking) was measured independently and simultaneously. Results indicated overall age-related differences for the n-back and the force-tracking task. Age-related differences increased during dual-task conditions. While younger adults exhibited no decrease in cognitive or motor performance during dual-task conditions, older adults showed a decrease in motor and cognitive performance. Additionally, when older adults made an error in the cognitive task they tended to show greater variability in the force-tracking task. These results suggest that cognitive motor deficits are responsible for older adults' performance decrements under dual-task conditions.

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Actual or potential applications of this research include training Web users to search more effectively and suggestions to improve the design of search engines.

Technological advancements have become widespread, and their implementation into products of everyday use is accelerating. Technology has the potential to improve the lives of older adults by increasing their safety, security, and independence in daily life. However, too often older adults' capabilities and limitations are not considered in the design of current and future technologies. In 1990, the National Research Council identified the importance of human factors in the design of technology for an aging population. The goal of this chapter is to review research on aging and technology since that report to determine the contributions of human factors research to issues of aging and technology design. In this chapter we address the extent to which older adults use new technologies, factors to consider in the adoption of technology (e.g., attitudes), the influence of technology design on older adults' performance (e.g., design of input devices), and ways to optimize training for older adults in using new technologies (e.g., age-specific instructional designs). We then review emerging areas of research that may direct the focus of human factors research in the next decade. These areas of research include ubiquitous computing (e.g., home monitoring systems), health care technologies (e.g., telehealth), robotics (e.g., Nursebot), and automated systems (e.g., cruise control). Finally, we consider opportunities and challenges to human factors research as the field continues to address the questions of optimizing technology for older adult users.

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The number of older adults is increasing, and telemedicine has the potential to improve their access to health care. Telemedicine systems have been shown to benefit older adults by increasing peer support interactions, providing health-care access to older adults in rural communities, reducing the cost of health care, increasing exercise, reducing pain and depression, and, perhaps most important, improving functional independence. However, older adults may have different needs from other users when interacting with telemedicine systems, because of age-related changes in perceptual, motor and cognitive abilities. The design of telemedicine technologies should, therefore, capitalize on older adults' strengths while minimizing their weaknesses. The field of human factors has much to offer in optimizing interactions between older adults and telemedicine technologies. Future research should take advantage of human factors methodologies to best design telemedicine technologies for an older population.

The benefits of telemedicine systems within the U.S. military have been widely recognized. However, a number of telemedicine systems have encountered resistance and have failed to be adopted and widely used. The purpose of the present project was to use a human factors analysis to characterize the facilitators and impediments to the use of a teledermatology system. More specifically, the goal was to investigate areas such as training, workload distribution, and communication between team members because these topics can be broadly classified as human factors issues. Across different sites, structured interviews were administered to three user groups within the system (i.e., consult managers, primary care managers who are comparable to civilian primary care physicians, and dermatologists). All three user groups reported that system support, speed, personal benefits, and increased education and experience were facilitators to system use; impediments were usability problems and insufficient training. However, each user group also identified unique facilitators and impediments. For example, users at the referring site (consult managers and primary care managers) focused on workload distribution among team members and the importance of onsite support as facilitators. In contrast, key facilitators for physicians (primary care and dermatologists) were effective communication, professional benefits, and increased quality of patient care. Human factors issues are critical for successful telemedicine systems and user issues may vary across user groups. The method reported herein provides guidance for development of new telemedicine systems and evaluation of existing telemedicine systems to increase adoption and usage.

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