Spatial cuing in a stereoscopic display: Attention remains "depth-aware" with age

Previous research has demonstrated that spatial attention is "depth-aware": Reaction times (RT) are greater for shifts in depth and hue-dimensional (2-D) space than in 2-D space alone. This experiment examined whether the ability to focus attention at a depth location is maintained,with advanced age. Twelve younger and 12 older observers viewed stereoscopic displays in which one of four spatial locations was cued. Two of the locations were at a near depth location and two were at afar depth location. When the focus of visual attention was shifted to a new location in space (because of an invalid cue), the cost in RT for switching attention (measured as the difference between RT on valid cue and invalid cue trials) was greater when observers had to switch attention between different depth locations and different locations in 2-D space than for shifts in 2-D space alone. This effect,vas observed for both younger and older observers, suggesting that the ability to orient attention to a depth location is maintained with age.