Perceptual Sensitivity and Conceptual Coordination in Children and Younger and Older Adults

This study was designed to explore the effects of perceptual salience on performance in problems requiring the coordination of information. Groups of children, younger adults, and older adults were administered a salience-assessment task to determine each individual’s perceptual sensitivity to each of three dimensions. Half of the subjects in each age group were given a coordination problem with their two most salient dimensions relevant. The remaining half were given problems with their two least salient dimensions relevant. For each of the age groups, those problems containing the most salient information were solved faster and more accurately than problems containing the least salient information. The results demonstrate that perceptual sensitivity continues to influence problem solving from childhood through late adulthood

Age groups · Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Perception · Salience (neuroscience) · Salient · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Creativity in Education and Neuroscience · Demography · Psychology