Balouch, S. & Rusted, J.
School of Psychology. University of Sussex. Brighton, UK.
According to the resource theory errors occur in everyday activities when cognitive resources are limited by brain damage, distraction or old age. This predicts failures in error-monitoring (ability to detect and correct errors) when resources are limited. We investigated differences in errors and error-monitoring between cognitively healthy young and older adults in a tea-making task (TT) under conditions that limited cognitive resources. Participants completed the TT in the standard condition (SC) and a dual-task distractor condition (DC). Errors and error-monitoring were comprehensively coded. Older adults made significantly more errors than young adults. The DC significantly reduced verbal checks compared to the SC in both groups, producing more microslips for young adults, but not for older adults. We conclude older adults may benefit from training that employs the effective checking strategies used by young adults, and future studies will explore this approach.