The useful field of view is defined as the visual area in which information can be acquired within one eye fixation. We studied visual search within this context and found a reduction in the size of the field as a function of age. This loss, however, was recovered partially with practice. Standard acuity and perimetric tests of visual field, although diagnostic of disease, underestimate the degree of difficulty experienced by visually healthy older adults in everyday activities requiring the use of peripheral vision. To aid in predicting such performance, a model incorporating the effects of distractors and secondary task demands was developed.

Recently developed measures of clustering in free recall arc examined and shown to vary with characteristics of recall unrelated to relative amounts of clustering. Specifically, previous measures were shown to vary with such factors as number of categories recalled, the distribution of the total items recalled across categories, and total number of items recalled. For these reasons, comparisons between and within subjects, as well as comparisons between experiments, are most difficult. An adjusted ratio of clustering (ARC) measure, which does not vary with irrelevant characteristics of recall, is proposed.

Useful field of view, a measure of processing speed and spatial attention, can be improved with training. We evaluated the effects of this improvement on older adults' driving performance. Elderly adults participated in a speed-of-processing training program (N = 48), a traditional driver training program performed in a driving simulator (N = 22), or a low-risk reference group (N = 25). Before training, immediately after training or an equivalent time delay, and after an 18-month delay each participant was evaluated in a driving simulator and completed a 14-mile (22.5-km) open-road driving evaluation. Speed-of-processing training, but not simulator training, improved a specific measure of useful field of view (UFOV), transferred to some simulator measures, and resulted in fewer dangerous maneuvers during the driving evaluation. The simulator-trained group improved on two driving performance measures: turning into the correct lane and proper signal use. Similar effects were not observed in the speed-of-processing training or low-risk reference groups. The persistence of these effects over an 18-month test interval was also evaluated. Actual or potential applications of this research include driver assessment and/or training programs and cognitive intervention programs for older adults.

Performance-based cognitive measures are predictive of future at-fault MVCs in older adults. Cognitive performance, in particular, is a salient predictor of subsequent crash involvement in older adults. High-risk older drivers can be identified through brief, performance-based measures administered in a MVA setting.