This project focused on the use of videos as instructions for older adults completing a complex medical task. In this study, the videos were presented in either a first-person or third-person perspective, as seen in the image below. The goal of the study was to determine if the perspective of the videos impacted the performance of older adults using those instructions to assemble medical equipment.
TESTING VIDEO Perspective WITH OLDER ADULTS
The use of media with instructions can improve performance on spatial assembly tasks, but type of media and features of the media also impact performance. Animated images or videos can improve performance, but the perspective of the media can also have an impact. Particularly, following first-person perspective video instructions can be more beneficial for younger adults when completing an assembly task.
Older adults are impacted by point of view in navigation tasks, and changes in spatial cognition occur with aging such as a decrease in performance on mental rotation tests. This project investigated how perspective in videos impacts older adults compared to younger adults.
Forty-five younger adults and 15 older adults completed the study and were analyzed. Participants watched video instructions on a tablet while following the instructions to assemble medical ventilation equipment. The participants were observed by an experimenter who recorded responses and time to complete the study. Participants also completed spatial ability tests and the NASA-TLX as a measure of workload.
Individual differences
The results of this study were similar to a previous study which examined individual differences when conducting a medical assembly task. Individuals who scored higher on the spatial ability tests also tended to perform better on the medical task. In the case of the video perspectives, those individuals who scored higher on the abilities tests also performed better on the task in this experiment.
The perspective of the videos did not impact older or younger adults, although there were differences in performance across age groups.
Mak Pryor 