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

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.