*2.1.4 Age-impaired task performance*

Performance of tasks can be impaired or counteracted, enhanced or neutrally effected by age [17]. Older people may learn how to counteract any inability to perform a task or their experience or knowledge might actually enhance what they are doing- examples include driving different routes to avoid difficult situations, driving more slowly to compensate for perceived slower response times, or driving in daylight only, or to avoid glare, or using familiar routes [18, 19]. Age-impaired tasks are not only those that rely on complex switching of attention or speed of response, they may also be impaired by high levels of emotion or stress [such as frustration of being late], both of which directly affect memory. An age-impaired task may be one at a forced pace, whereas an age-counteracted one would be where the older person, aware they may be slower, works at their own pace. Inhibitory responses are less efficient with age so it becomes more difficult to access relevant information and delete old information from our processing; again, many people

*Models and Technologies for Smart, Sustainable and Safe Transportation Systems*

Being 'older' used to apply to people aged over 50, but in modern times it largely refers to people who are at least past retirement age, which would be between 65 and 70 in most countries, right up to 100+. It is possible now to find large numbers of people aged over 80 who are highly active. However increasing longevity brings not only more fit older people, it also means more older people with limitations and disabilities and more people generally with low levels of computer literacy [1]. Some things do deteriorate with age, including many cognitive functions, for example memory and retention, but also some skills such as navigation and situational awareness. Response times, such as reaction times in the event of an emergency also slow with age, even more so when there are multiple demands on attention and attention-switching and/or distractors (for example see [2]).

Between the ages 20–80, there is a decade-by-decade reduction in processing speeds, working memory, cued and free recall: these are real reductions in every

• habituated skills and sustained attention, past experience allowing better

• recognition and other crystallised abilities that rely on culture-related lifelong learning and these increase throughout adulthood and are preserved in healthy ageing; gains may also relate to older adults adopting age-counteractive measures to compensate for losses. The evidence for functional reorganization [the plasticity of the brain] and compensation along with effective interventions does hold some promise for a more optimistic view of neurocog-

There is ample research showing the distraction of cellphones causing a deterioration in driving performance in terms of reduced ability to react and respond; whilst this occurs at all ages, it can be a particular problem for older people because it involves switching attention [7]. We also know that visual field declines with age but this is not universal by any means [8]: we cannot assume that all older people necessarily have poor eyesight, and transport or other policies reflecting this that restrict driving privileges for older people have no scientific foundation- in other words, restrict drivers if you wish by testing visual field, but do not do it by age. Decline in situation awareness relates to shrinkage in the field of view but not to cognitive decline: these constitute an issue in perception of travel-related information but mean that training to improve situation awareness may have some real

The findings of slower processing, working memory and attention-switching

declines, are clear but there is huge variability for all of these: reasons might include health status and fitness being huge positive indicators for self-efficacy

**2. What happens as we age?**

**2.1 Getting older- what changes cognitively?**

*2.1.1 Cognitive age-related declines and gains*

There are also age-related gains:

• increased vocabulary and knowledge,

nitive status in later life [4–6].

*2.1.2 Distracters and slower processing*

anticipation,

decade, although a steeper decline between 70 and 80 [3].

**56**

value.

learn to compensate for this, for example by keeping to simple or more habituated tasks that require fewer or lower inhibitory responses and which appear to be unaffected by ageing [20, 21]. Increased amounts of or new travel-relevant information would mean that processing may be problematic if it interferes with the existing information travellers hold in their memories about the trip (see for example [22–24]); additional information could only be of value in this situation if precisely targeted at the person and the specific journey, and not adding too much new information to process. However older people are very able to maintain sustained attention, so tasks that require this but not divided attention may be relatively age-neutral, and in any event even divided attention tasks may be improved with practice and training in older people [25, 26].

Age-related changes may disadvantage older people in an increasingly screen and button-based world [23]. The over 70s in particular exhibit difficulties with touch screen interfaces and the navigation logic of applications [27]. Too much information can present anybody with a processing dilemma, particularly older people; for example over-complex display systems of travel information, either at sites or on mobile apps, may present them with something they struggle to deal with and thus avoid. So there is the problem that any declines in cognitive processing could lead to reduced or no use of new technology, which in turn leads to exclusion of older people. There are many recommendations that can alleviate or at least mitigate such issues, covered later in this chapter.
