Crossmodal and Intramodal Attentional Narrowing and Its Interaction with Aging and Priority

This research examined the effects of attentional narrowing, in interaction with aging and cue prioritization, on the detection of peripheral visual, auditory, and tactile cues. Overall, detection performance for both auditory and tactile cues was better than for peripheral visual cues, with auditory cues being detected most reliably across age groups. The results of this study highlight the need for a better understanding of attentional narrowing in older people and demonstrate the need for adaptive (vehicle) interfaces that change the modality and salience of cues based on driving context and driver characteristics.