Bingo! Externally supported performance intervention for deficient visual search in normal aging, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease
Files
Accepted manuscript
Date
2012
Authors
Laudate, T. M.
Neargarder, S.
Dunne, T. E.
Sullivan, K. D.
Joshi, P.
Gilmore, G. C.
Riedel, T. M.
Cronin-Golomb, Alice
Version
Published version
OA Version
Citation
TM Laudate, S Neargarder, TE Dunne, KD Sullivan, P Joshi, GC Gilmore, TM Riedel, A Cronin-Golomb. 2012. "Bingo! Externally supported performance intervention for deficient visual search in normal aging, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease." Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, Volume 19, Issue 1-2, pp. 102 - 121.
Abstract
External support may improve task performance regardless of an individual’s ability to
compensate for cognitive deficits through internally-generated mechanisms. We investigated if
performance of a complex, familiar visual search task (the game of bingo) could be enhanced in
groups with suboptimal vision by providing external support through manipulation of task stimuli.
Participants were 19 younger adults, 14 individuals with probable Alzheimer’s disease (AD), 13
AD-matched healthy adults, 17 non-demented individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD), and 20
PD-matched healthy adults. We varied stimulus contrast, size, and visual complexity during game
play. The externally-supported performance interventions of increased stimulus size and decreased
complexity resulted in improvements in performance by all groups. Performance improvement
through increased stimulus size and decreased complexity was demonstrated by all groups. AD
also obtained benefit from increasing contrast, presumably by compensating for their contrast
sensitivity deficit. The general finding of improved performance across healthy and afflicted
groups suggests the value of visual support as an easy-to-apply intervention to enhance cognitive
performance.