Tarefas atentivas em três grupos etários: Crianças, adultos e idosos

Abstract

Some studies suggest the existence of distinct stages and processes in information selection pertaining visual scenes. This study investigated the patterns of visual selection information through three tasks performed by three age groups: 10 children from 9 to 13 years (mean age = 11. 1, SD = 1. 37,), 10 adults from 21 to 29 years (mean = 23. 6, SD = 2. 46, average) and 10 elders from 62 to 78 years (mean = 66.1, SD = 5.15), performed a simple discrimination task (go / no - go), a task of perceptual load (Lavie, 1995) and a task of attentional focussing (Facoetti & Molteni, 2000). The results of the first experiment suggest that the reaction time to discriminate a target letter is significantly lower in the group composed of young adults when compared to groups composed of children and elders. The second experiment suggests a decrease in efficiency in the process of information selection under conditions of low perceptual load in the elderly population and a decrease in the efficiency of selection under conditions of high and low perceptual load in the population composed of children. These results suggest the existence of specific patterns in the selection of visual information in terms of age and perceptual load processed by the visual system. Finally, the third experiment shows that participants were faster in the discrimination of the target letter presented within an area enclosed by a small cue compared then when a large cue was presented. The effect of compatibility between target letter and flanking letters was also influenced according to the visual cue (inside or outside the area). This experiment also showed specific features of processing according to age group. Together these results indicate possible changes in cognitive processes during the stages of human development