Abstract
Sustained attention is essential for older adults to maintain an active lifestyle, and the deficiency of this function is often associated with health-related risks such as falling and frailty. The present study examined whether the well-established age-effect on reducing mind-wandering, the drift to internal thoughts that are seen to be detrimental to attentional control, could be replicated by using a robotic experimenter for older adults who are not as familiar with online technologies. A total of 28 younger and 22 older adults performed a Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) by answering thought probes regarding their attention states and providing confidence ratings for their own task performances. The indices from the modified SART suggested a well-documented conservative response strategy endorsed by older adults, which were represented by slower responses and increased omission errors. Moreover, the slower responses and increased omissions were found to be associated with less self-reported mind-wandering, thus showing consistency with their higher subjective ratings of attentional control. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential of constructing age-related cognitive profiles with attention evaluation instruction based on a social companion robot for older adults at home.
Highlights
With advanced science and technology, the longevity revolution is taking place worldwide
We investigated four objective attentional indexes collected during Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART), which were (1) error of commission (EoC), the ratio of failing to withhold a keypress response when presented with the NO-GO target to the total block number, (2) omission, the ratio of missing a keypress when presented with GO
We introduced a robotic experimenter under a home-like setting for a sustained attentional task
Summary
With advanced science and technology, the longevity revolution is taking place worldwide. By 2050, one in six people will be over the age of 65 [1]. As older adults are the main growing demographic group, technological solutions are urgently required to meet the constantly increasing demands of care services. In this regard, active aging—the lifestyle that maintains positive subjective well-being by having good physical, social, and mental health in old age [2]—is becoming a trend in the era of population aging. Active aging is supported by one’s ability to sustain attention for goal-oriented behaviors. Identification of subtle impairments in attention is critical to planning treatment, and so are intervention strategies before the consequences become detrimental
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