Effects of information load, sensory modality, and age on paced inspection performance

The effects on paced inspection performance of amount of stimulus information, presentation of information visually, as opposed to visually and auditorily, and age were investigated. In comparison to performance with one sequence of visual information, correct identifications of signals declined and false alarms increased when two sequences of visual information were monitored. Increasing the number of classes of signals in the two sequences did not significantly affect performance. However, when one of the two sequences was presented visually and the other auditorily, performance improved. There was a tendency for performance to be lower among older subjects in most experimental conditions.