Joseph Sharit|Mario Alberto Hernández|Sara J. Czaja|Peter Pirolli
Investigating the Roles of Knowledge and Cognitive Abilities in Older Adult Information Seeking on the Web
University of Miami|University of Miami|University of Miami|Palo Alto Research Center
study investigated influences knowledge particularly internet web browser search engine knowledge well cognitive abilities older adult information seeking internet emphasis aspects cognition informed modeling framework search engine informationseeking behavior participants two older age groups recruited twenty people youngerold group ages 6070 twenty people olderold group ages 7185 ten younger adults ages 1839 served comparison group participants least internet search experience experimental task consisted six realistic search problems involving information related health wellbeing varied degree complexity results indicated though necessary internetrelated knowledge sufficient explaining informationseeking performance suggested combination knowledge key cognitive abilities important successful information seeking addition cognitive abilities found critical task performance depended search problems complexity also significant differences task performance younger two older age groups found complex simple problems overall results study implications instructing older adults internet information seeking design web sites