Using Mechanical Turk to Assess the Effects of Age and Spatial Proximity on Inattentional Blindness

Abstract

Few studies have used online data collection to study cognitive aging. We used a large ('N' = 515) online sample to replicate the findings that inattentional blindness increases with age and with the distance of the unexpected object from the focus of attention. Critically, we assessed whether distance moderates the relationship between age and noticing. We replicated both age and distance effects, but found no age by distance interaction. These findings disconfirm a plausible explanation for age differences in noticing (restricted field of view), while for the first time highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of using Mechanical Turk for the study of cognitive aging.

Keywords

• aging
• attention
• inattentional blindness
• Amazon Mechanical Turk
• research methods