EFFECTS OF AGE AND TRAINING FORMATS ON BASIC COMPUTER SKILL ACQUISITION IN OLDER ADULTS

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Abstract
This study examined the ability of young‐old (ages 60‐74 years) and old‐old (ages 75‐89 years) adults to acquire and retain basic computer skills. The effects of two types of training methods on computer skill acquisition in these age groups also were explored. Participants in this study were trained to perform basic computer procedures with either an animated interactive multimedia compact disk (CD‐ROM) or an illustrated manual. They were then tested on their ability to perform these procedures immediately after training and 1 week later. The findings revealed the following. The young‐old adults made fewer performance and motor control errors, required less assistance, and took less time for training than the old‐old adults. Some forgetting of factual information about the computers and how to per‐form some of the procedures took place over time in both age groups. In addition, measures of spatial and verbal working memory were significant predictors of computer skill acquisition in some instances. Finally, performance was approximately the same with the CD‐ROM and the manual in both age groups.