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Do You See What I See? The Impact of Age Differences in Time Perspective on Visual Attention

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada.
² The Rotman Research Institute of Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Canada.

Address correspondence to Ruthann C. Thomas or Lynn Hasher at the University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, Department of Psychology, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G3, Canada. E-mail: ruthann{at}psych.utoronto.ca or hasher{at}psych.utoronto.ca

In young adults, having a relatively long time perspective has been associated with a more abstract, holistic approach to cognitive tasks, as opposed to the more concrete, detailed approach associated with having a more limited or near-future focus ( Trope & Liberman, 2003). Here we studied the impact of age differences in temporal perspective on performance on a classic visual attention task ( Navon, 1977) that allowed for an orientation toward either detailed or holistic processing. Consistent with views on temporal perspective and cognition ( Liberman, Sagristano, & Trope, 2002), we found that younger adults were more likely than older adults to orient toward holistic processing.