Auditory and Visual Distractor Decrement in Older Worker Manual Assembly Task Learning: Impact of Spatial Reasoning, Field Independence, and Level of Education

Details

• Personal Author:
  Jaraiedi M ; Schwerha, Diana J. ; Wiker, S. F.
• Description:
  This study examined the impact of age on manual assembly task learning in the presence of visual and auditory distracters. Manual assembly task learning (e.g., number of learning trials needed to obtain consistently accurate assembly and near asymptote performance times) was studied in men and women between 18 and 65 years of age. Higher spatial reasoning capabilities were associated with fewer trials to reach the learning criterion, faster manual assembly times, and material prophylaxis for the type of distractors addressed in this study that are likely to be encountered in the workplace. Years of formal education and field independence showed no impact on distractor-based decrements in task learning. For the oldest group of subjects (>50 years), concomitant presentation of visual and auditory distractors that are commonly encountered in industry were associated with a greater number of learning trials that were needed to achieve asymptotic manual assembly task learning. Spatial reasoning and field independence measures were lower in the older than in the younger age groups (p < 0.05). When spatial reasoning was treated as a covariate, however, nearly all age differences found in learning performance in the face of distractors were removed. The findings suggest that selection of workers based on spatial reasoning ability, rather than age, would yield better manual task learning in the face of visual and auditory distraction. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Age Factors Education Occupational Health Safety Workload
• Keywords:
  Age Factors Task Performance Work Capability Work Capacity
• ISSN:
  1090-8471
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  300-317
• Volume:
  19
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20070385
• Citation:
  Hum Factors Ergon Manuf Serv Ind 2009 Jul/Aug; 19(4):300-317
• Contact Point Address:
  S. F. Wiker, Ergonomics Laboratory, Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506
• Email:
  wiker@ergo.org
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• Performing Organization:
  West Virginia University
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries
• End Date:
  20100630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f4bbb1e869ad3aaf1667294d59cf8c3bcf61d3dfdf43af3b07233b57799aac25dfc04208f58ffe444658bd7a804b684c57316cc1e412c6352277b5105bb93ef1
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/208615/cdc_208615_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 341.20 KB ]