Sustained attention in adulthood: A unique, large-sample, longitudinal and multicohort analysis using the Mackworth Clock-Test.

Abstract

A cross-sectional sample of men (n = 177) tested in 1962-1964, and men (n = 188) and women (n = 113) tested in 1980-1984, and a longitudinal sample (n = 53) of men tested in 1962-1964 and 1980-1984, were used to investigate age differences and 18-year age changes on a 62-min sensory vigilance task that made virtually no demand on memory, the Mackworth Clock-Test. Age differences and changes in the vigilance decrement were also examined. No age differences or changes were obtained for detection accuracy. Target response time showed significant age-related 18-year longitudinal changes and one significant cross-sectional age difference; the overall age effect was of a U-shaped function with a minimum at middle age. Age differences and changes were obtained in a measure of arousal: skin potential response latency; the overall age effect was also consistent with a U-shaped function. There was little consistent evidence of a differential effect of age on the vigilance decrement. Outcomes contradictory to Surwillo and Quilter (1964) and Quilter, Giambra, and Benson (1983) are reconciled through additional statistical analyses.

Sustained attention, attentional selectivity, and attentional capacity across the lifespan

“…A. Rogers, 2000). One very large-scale study using a vigilance task-the Mackworth Clock Task-failed to find any evidence of sustained-attention deficits in older adults (Giambra & Quilter, 1988). It is possible that the increased sensitivity of the SART in comparison to vigilance tasks enabled it to detect age-related decline in this study.…”

“…A. Rogers, 2000). One very large-scale study, involving over 500 participants from the ages of 18 to 91, found little evidence of any age-related decrement in sustained attention ability, as measured by the Mackworth Clock Test, a 62-min sensory vigilance task (Giambra & Quilter, 1988). Studies of the selectivity aspect of attention have employed visual search tasks (Treisman & Gelade, 1980) and visuospatial orienting tasks (Posner, 1980).…”

Assessing Attention: Comparison of Response-Inhibition and Traditional Continuous Performance Tests

“…Reaction time is the latency between critical signal onset and the participant's 1991; Edley & Knopf, 1987). Performance also is usually poorer among participants with clinical diagnoses of schizophrenia, ADHD, learning disability, brain injury, dementia, depression, and anxiety (Beale, Matthew, Oliver, & Corballis, 1987;Chee, Logan, Schachar, Lindsay, & Wachsmuth, 1989;Earle-Boyer, Serper, Davidson, & Harvey, 1991;Goetsch & Adams, 1990;Kaufmann, Fletcher, Levin, Miner, & Ewing-Cobbs, 1993;Mirsky, et al, 1992;Parasuraman, Mutter, & Molloy, 1991).…”

Age differences in perceived workload across a short vigil

“…Since then several studies have found evidence of age differences (e.g., Bunce, Barrowclough & Morris, 1996;Giambra, 1997;Parasuraman, Nestor, & Greenwood, 1989;Parasuraman & Giambra, 1991), although others (e.g. Giambra & Quilter, 1988) have not. Research examining age differences in the vigilance decrement is also inconsistent.…”