Application of Cognitive Theory to Training and Design Solutions for Age-related Computer Use

EXTRAVERSION/INTROVERSION AND AGE-RELATED DIFFERENCES IN SPEED-ACCURACY TRADEOFF

ABSTRACT Introduction: Extraversion/introversion and age differences might influence speed-accuracy tradeoff. Objective: The speed-accuracy tradeoff was investigated in extroverted and introverted female children, young adults and older adults. Method: Participants carried out an alternative version of Fitts’ task, which involved making alternate clicks with the mouse held in the dominant hand, moving as fast as possible, on two rectangular targets on a computer screen in order to make twelve attempts at six random levels of difficulty (twelve combinations of target widths and distances between targets). Each of the three groups was composed of 16 introverted and 16 extroverted subjects, based upon Brazilian versions of Eysenck’s questionnaire. Results: Elderly introverts fell short of the target more often and committed more overall errors than the elderly extroverts. Additionally, compared to their younger adult counterparts, the elderly subjects fell short of the target more often and committed more overall errors, besides taking longer to complete the task with higher levels of difficulty. Conclusion: The findings were interpreted in light of theories designed to explain the main processes underlying extroversion/introversion and age-related differences. Level of Evidence II; Lesser quality prospective study.

Designing Wearable Technology for an Aging Population

When considering the future and application of wearable technological devices, the growing demographic of adults over the age of 65 should be included during the product design process. Wearable technology could provide an ideal mechanism for delivering supportive applications to a growing older adult population, but designers must consider age-related changes in cognitive, sensory, and motor function when developing for older populations. Potential issues with wearable devices for older adults can be avoided by acknowledging limitations, and development teams can create effective and safe platforms that appeal to a variety of end users.

Usability and utility evaluation of the web-based "Should I Start Insulin?" patient decision aid for patients with type 2 diabetes among older people

This study aimed to evaluate the usability (ease of use) and utility (impact on user's decision-making process) of a web-based patient decision aid (PDA) among older-age users. A pragmatic, qualitative research design was used. We recruited patients with type 2 diabetes who were at the point of making a decision about starting insulin from a tertiary teaching hospital in Malaysia in 2014. Computer screen recording software was used to record the website browsing session and in-depth interviews were conducted while playing back the website recording. The interviews were analyzed using the framework approach to identify usability and utility issues. Three cycles of iteration were conducted until no more major issues emerged. Thirteen patients participated: median age 65 years old, 10 men, and nine had secondary education/diploma, four were graduates/had postgraduate degree. Four usability issues were identified (navigation between pages and sections, a layout with open display, simple language, and equipment preferences). For utility, participants commented that the website influenced their decision about insulin in three ways: it had provided information about insulin, it helped them deliberate choices using the option-attribute matrix, and it allowed them to involve others in their decision making by sharing the PDA summary printout.

Redesigning a Telehealth Diabetes Management Program for a Digital Divide Seniors Population

Recent advances in health information technologies promise to significantly improve the quality of care and quality of life for individuals who are chronically ill. However, significant challenges exist in targeting Digital Divide populations who are likely to be older, less educated, and novice computer users. This article presents a framework for understanding and reducing barriers for older adults to effectively use health information systems designed for disease management. The research is illustrated in the context of the IDEATel project, a large-scale telemedicine diabetes management and education program. The framework has three interdependent foci: hardware and software systems, tasks supported by the system, and user profiles. These foci are addressed in the context of usability and training studies. The studies document the challenges faced in facilitating patients’ access to Web resources supporting disease management. The article discusses system design changes that are intended to increase participants’ productive use of system resources.

Effects of Target Expansion on Selection Performance in Older Computer Users

Point and click interactions using a mouse are an integral part of computer use for current desktop systems. Compared with younger users though, older adults experience greater difficulties performing cursor positioning tasks, and this can present limitations to using a computer easily and effectively. Target expansion is a technique for improving pointing performance where the target grows dynamically as the cursor approaches. This has the advantage that targets conserve screen real estate in their unexpanded state, yet can still provide the benefits of a larger area to click on. This article presents two studies of target expansion with older and younger participants, involving multidirectional point-select tasks with a computer mouse. Study 1 compares static versus expanding targets, and Study 2 compares static targets with three alternative techniques for expansion. Results show that expansion can improve times by up to 14%, and reduce error rates by up to 50%. Additionally, expanding targets are beneficial even when the expansion happens late in the movement, that is, after the cursor has reached the expanded target area or even after it has reached the original target area. The participants’ subjective feedback on the target expansion are generally favorable, and this lends further support for the technique.

The effects of ageing and website ergonomic quality on internet information searching

Since the 1990s, the number of websites and web users, especially older users, has increased extensively. Despite the rapid growth in the number of websites, a significant number of ergonomic violations still hinder the information search activity performed by web users. As ageing is associated with reduced working memory capacity, inhibition failure, slowing of processing speed and more generally impaired executive functioning, older adult web users may experience difficulties while searching for information, especially when the website includes ergonomic violations, such as usability and accessibility violations. In this experiment, the navigation activities of younger and older web users were compared while they were searching for information on a website that met ergonomic guidelines and on a website that included ergonomic violations. The participants then performed a free, delayed-recall task to assess their mental representation of the website they had just navigated. The main findings showed that ageing had a negative impact on search performance but few effects on mental representation built by participants. On the contrary, the ergonomic quality of the website had an impact on search performance and mental representation built by the participants.

Effects of computer training and Internet usage on the well-being and quality of life of older adults: a randomized, controlled study

The quality of life of older adults may be improved by the use of computer or Web-based services. A limited number of experimental studies on this topic have shown mixed results. We carried out a randomized, controlled intervention study that aimed to examine the causal relationship between computer use and measures of physical well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being, development and activity, and autonomy. We randomly assigned a group of 191 participants to an intervention group, a training-no intervention group, or a no training-no intervention group. A fourth group consisted of 45 participants with no interest in computer use. We collected data at baseline, after 4 months, and after 12 months. The results showed that using computers and the Internet neither positively nor negatively influenced everyday functioning, well-being and mood, and the social network of healthy older individuals. We discuss possibilities for future studies.

Designing for Older People

Knowledge of age-related impairments in vision, hearing, and cognition can aid designers of products, tools, and environments for older users.

Predictors of web navigation performance in a life span sample of adults

The influence of age, subject matter knowledge, working memory, reading abilities, spatial abilities, and processing speed on Web navigation was assessed in a sample of 41 participants between the ages of 19 and 83 years. Each participant navigated a stand-alone tourism Web site to find answers to 12 questions. Performance was measured using time per trial, number of pages per trial, and number of revisited pages per trial. Age did not influence the number of total pages or repeat pages visited, which were predicted by domain knowledge, working memory, and processing speed. Age was associated with slower times per trial, and the effect remained significant after controlling for working memory, processing speed, and spatial abilities. Only with the addition of subject matter knowledge and World Wide Web experience was the age effect eliminated. Actual or potential applications of this research include redesigning Web sites to minimize memory demands and enhance visual segmentation. The data also suggest that age differences in Web navigation can be offset partially by taking advantage of older adults' prior experiences in the domain.

Learning to use a home medical device: mediating age-related differences with training

We examined the differential benefits of instructional materials for younger and older adults learning to use a home medical device. Participants received training on use of a blood glucose meter via either a user manual (a text guide with pictures) or an instructional video. Performance was measured immediately and then after a 2-week retention interval. Type of instruction was critical for determining older adults' performance. Older adults trained using the manual had poorer performance than did all other groups. After only 1 calibration, older adults who received video training performed as accurately as did the younger adults. Older adults' performance was more influenced by the retention interval; however, the benefit of the video training was maintained for the older adults across the retention interval. Confidence ratings paralleled subjective workload ratings. The data provide practical information to guide the development of training programs for systems that will be used by both younger and older adults; they also demonstrate the need for age-related usability testing even for training program design.