Effects of Character Properties and Aging on Visual Search

Abstract

This study examined characteristics of Chinese character identification of young and old subjects and age effects in a visual-search task. Five college students (19-24 years) and eight old subjects (65-70 years) participated in a Chinese character visual-search task that required choosing a target among 12 stimuli. Characters were manipulated by varying the complexity (5, 10, 15, or 20 strokes) and the font size (18, 26, 36, or 48 point). Stimuli were presented for five kinds of duration (0.5, 0.78, 1, 2, or 3 s) in young subjects and only one (3 s) in old subjects. Performance accuracy and response speed decreased as functions of the complexity of characters and of the size. Age differences increased as a function of the complexity in performance accuracy, but were constant in response speed.