Article written by Author, Iqbal Pittalwala, May, via https://news.ucr.edu on 10 May 2023
The study assessed the interaction between physical exertion and short-term memory performance when distractors were present or absent in younger and older adults.
“Our study found that in comparison to younger adults, older adults are less likely to ignore distractors in their surroundings when simultaneously engaging in a cognitive task and an effortful physical task.
The researchers recruited 19 older adults, aged 65-86 from local communities in Riverside, Calif., for the two-year study.
In the memory display, they were shown 3 red bars alone or 3 red bars surrounded by blue bars and were asked to remember the orientation of only the red bars.
“Our results suggest that older adults might have heightened distractibility.”Starting in 2030, older Americans will make up 21% of the population, up from 15% in 2018.