AGE-RELATED DIFFERENCES IN THE MOTORIC ASPECTS OF TRANSCRIPTION TYPING SKILL

Eighty typists ranging in age from 21-71 years and in skill from 24-110 net words per minute participated in 2 experiments examining age-related differences in the motoric aspects of transcription typing skill. Age- and skill-related differences were examined for 2 simplified typing tasks: letter reaction time, which assessed latency to type a single keystroke, and digraph typing, which assessed the latencies to type 2 consecutive keystrokes. A finger tapping and choice reaction time task were also included. The results indicated that low-skill, older typists exhibited a deficit in both the translation and the execution components of motor performance, whereas high-skill, older typists exhibited a deficit in translation only. An additional task that manipulated preview of the text to be typed replicated the findings of Salthouse (1984), suggesting that older typists compensate for age-related slowing by beginning keystroke preparation sooner.