The effect of age and activity level on attention to moving objects in different visual fields

This study set out to determine if the ability to attentively track multiple moving objects was effected by an individual's age, physical activity level, or the area of the visual field (i.e. central or inferior visual field) in which the stimulus was presented. The study utilized a modified version of the multiple object tracking (MOT) task designed by Pylyshyn and Storm (1988) and presented the tracking stimulus in the two different visual fields. In the first experiment, the stimulus was presented within the central visual field and required the participants to attentively track a subset of a field of 13 moving balls. The older individuals were found to have accuracy scores consistently below those of the younger group. As well, individual's activity classification (active or non-active) had no relationship to their ability to track the moving objects. In the second experiment, the stimulus was moved into the inferior visual field and the procedure from the first experiment was repeated. Results showed that in the inferior visual field, active older individuals did not differ in their ability to track the multiple moving objects from the younger individuals, however, the non-active older group did score lower than the younger group. As well, in periphery, the active older individuals achieved higher scores on the MOT task than their non-active peers. The implications of these findings are then discussed in terms of both future research and their application to the world outside of the laboratory.