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Biomedical subjects

J M Vanderplas

Publications and source records attributed to J M Vanderplas.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1981

Effects of legibility on verbal test performance of older adults.

Each of 46 adults age 63 to 85 yr. (M = 74.9) was given one or another form of a verbal test consisting of 11 subtests: Names, Information, Similarities (analogies), Arithmetic, Distances, Same/Different, Spelling, Scrambled Sentences, True/False, Definitions, and Reverse Definitions. Half of the participants were given Form L, printed in 14-point England Times; the other half were given Form S, printed in 9-point Helvetica. The content of the two forms was identical. The group given Form L scored significantly higher on six of the 11 subtests and on total score, compared with the group given Form S. Implications for improvement of test performance by improving test legibility are briefly discussed.

Aged↗
PubMed1979

Stimulus persistence and age.

Stimulus persistence theory states that the effects of stimulation are longer lasting in the nervous system of the old person than the younger one. This concept and its relation to perceptual functioning and age was examined via two perceptual aftereffect tasks, the Spiral and the Waterfall. Twenty-four elderly adults (mean age = 65.5) and twenty-four young adults (mean age = 24.8) were each exposed to both stimulus displays, at four exposure durations: 45, 60, 90, and 120 seconds. Following the offset of each display, the duration of any apparent motion aftereffect was recorded. Although on the basis of stimulus persistence theory it was expected that the elderly would exhibit longer mean aftereffects than the young, no support for this hypothesis was noted. Possible explanations of these results and their relation to previous findings, in terms of fatigue effects and sample characteristics, are discussed.

Adult↗