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Ledge and wedge: younger and older adults’ perception of action possibilities

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Abstract

The current study investigated whether younger (college-age) and older adults (60+ years) differ in their ability to perceive safe and unsafe motor actions. Participants decided whether to walk through openings varying in width in two penalty conditions: In the doorway condition, if participants attempted to squeeze through impossibly narrow openings, the penalty for error was entrapment. In the ledge condition, if participants attempted to inch along impossibly narrow ledges, the penalty for error was falling. Results showed that across the lifespan, people consider falling to be a more severe penalty than getting stuck: Both younger and older adults made more conservative decisions when the penalty for error was falling, and older women were especially leery of falling. In both age groups, abilities and decisions were based on dynamic properties of the body, such as compressed body size in the doorway condition and balance in the ledge condition. Findings indicate that failure to perceive possibilities for action is unlikely to be the cause of the increased prevalence of falling in older adults.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by National Institute of Health and Human Development Grant R37-HD33486 to Karen Adolph and a New York University Dean’s Undergraduate Research Fund Grant to Angela Char.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, New York University, 4 Washington Place, Room 410, New York, NY, 10003, USA

    David Comalli, John Franchak, Angela Char & Karen Adolph

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  1. David Comalli
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  2. John Franchak
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  3. Angela Char
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  4. Karen Adolph
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Correspondence to Karen Adolph.

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Comalli, D., Franchak, J., Char, A. et al. Ledge and wedge: younger and older adults’ perception of action possibilities. Exp Brain Res 228, 183–192 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3550-0

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