Clearer text narrows age gap in decision-making tasks
In an online experiment lasting about an hour, larger, higher-contrast text narrowed performance differences between 48 younger and 48 older adults.
Limit: Uncontrolled monitor settings, lighting, and visual acuity made perceived text clarity vary across participants
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Forty-eight adults aged 18–30 and 48 aged 70 or older completed a preregistered online experiment comparing decision-making with standard and clearer written information. Each participant saw both formats during a session lasting about 60 minutes. Standard text was smaller and light gray; enhanced text was larger and black, both on white backgrounds.
Participants answered hypothetical purchasing and nutrition questions, alongside reading and information-search tasks. Researchers assessed decision-making with a score combining accuracy and response speed. Older adults performed worse than younger adults overall. Larger, higher-contrast text improved older adults’ decision-making performance but not younger adults’, reducing the age gap. It also increased reading speed in older adults. However, faster reading did not fully account for the improvement in their decision-making.
Why it matters
Decoding hard-to-read information places extra demands on older adults’ mental resources. The study addresses how that burden may affect decisions important for independence.
Caveats
The experiment measured performance on hypothetical online tasks, not everyday decisions or independence. Participants were native English speakers living in England with normal or corrected-to-normal vision; the study excluded people reporting memory or cognitive impairments, learning difficulties or color blindness.
From the paper
- Who took part
Forty-eight young (18–30) and 48 older (70+) participants were recruited via Prolific (prolific.com).
- Duration
The experiment took approximately 60 min to complete.
- Age-related decision-making deficits
There was a significant interaction, F (1, 94) = 8.44, p =.005, ηp² = 0.08, which showed that clearer information improved decision-making for older adults (p <.001, d = 0.47), but not young adults (p =.898, d = 0.03).
- Reading speed
There was a significant interaction, F(1, 93) = 14.07, p <.001, ηp² = 0.13, which showed that reading speed was faster for enhanced sentences than standard sentences for older adults (p <.001, d = 0.55) but not young adults (p =.965, d = 0.023).
Quoted word for word from the full text on PubMed Central.
The paper
Clear decisions: improved perceptual clarity reduces age-related decision-making deficits
Nottingham Trent University
The Journals of Gerontology, Series B, May 11, 2026, Open access
