It never gets old: Spatiotemporal predictions guide attention throughout the adult lifespan

Older adults struggle with tasks requiring selective attention while facing distraction. Experimental observations have relied on traditional visual-search designs using static displays. However, natural environments are inherently dynamic and often include spatial and temporal regularities that afford anticipation of task-relevant events that can support performance. Moreover, the dynamics within the environment introduce additional temporal expectations, with mounting anticipation as intervals between events become longer. We investigate the capacity to benefit from spatiotemporal predictions across the adult lifespan as a function of the interval between targets. Participants (N=300, equally distributed between the ages of 20 to 80) searched for multiple targets that faded in and out of displays among distractors. Within trials, half of the targets appeared at a fixed time and approximate location whereas others appeared unpredictably. In line with previous reports, overall search performance was reduced with age. We also observed that the performance improvements conferred by the conditional probabilities of target appearances between successive task events diminished with increasing age. Nevertheless, the ability to take advantage of spatiotemporal regularities remained significant regardless of age. This age-resistant effect was most evident when targets appeared in quick succession, thereby increasing attentional load. While our findings confirm an age-related decline, we identified clear indications for learning and proactive attentional guidance when searching in dynamic environments throughout adulthood.