Computer anxiety in young and older adults: Implications for human-computer interactions in older populations

This research examined the construct of computer anxiety in young and older adults in the context of a computer-based cognitive test. There were two primary questions: (a) Is there an age difference in computer anxiety? (b) What is the relationship between computer anxiety and age-related differences in performance on computer-based cognitive tasks? A total of 20 young adults and 20 older adults were administered a series of computer tasks and a computer anxiety measure. Results indicated that older adults had significantly higher computer anxiety than younger adults. Furthermore, the computer anxiety was unrelated to performance as measured by percent correct on the task, but was related to performance as measured by decision time. Implications for interactions between older adults and computers are discussed.