This article reports on a study that examined the role of aging in the detection of collision events, both observer and moving object collisions. In this study, older and younger observers were presented with displays simulating approaching objects that would either collide or pass by the observer. In 4 experiments, the authors found that older observers, as compared with younger observers, had less sensitivity in detecting collisions with an increase in speed, at shorter display durations, and with longer time-to-contact conditions. Older observers also had greater difficulty when the scenario simulated observer motion as well. This finding suggests that older observers have difficulty discriminating among object motion expansion, background expansion, and observer motion. The authors conclude that age-related decrements in detecting collision events involving moving objects are the result of a decreased sensitivity to recover expansion information. (Author/publisher)
Abstract