Age differences in lapses of intention in the Stroop task.

The study evaluated the hypothesis that older adults are more susceptible to lapses of intention (lapses) than are younger adults, and explored the factors contributing to these lapses. The findings of three experiments examining the pattern of intrusion errors in the Stroop task revealed that older adults were more likely to experience lapses than were younger adults, and that lapses tended to be of longer duration in older than younger adults. Lapses were observed under conditions of suboptimal controlled attentional processing, when task conditions required the allocation of this processing in the service of multiple behavioral goals, and during periods of slowed responding. The findings of these experiments are consistent with those from a growing number of studies indicating that older adults are more susceptible to lapses of intention than younger adults.