B – 81 Comfort with Technology and Executive Function Among Older Adults

Abstract Objective It is recognized that some older adults have difficulty navigating technology. As utilizing and learning technology requires skills in cognitive flexibility, such as set shifting, maintaining focus, and problem-solving, we hypothesized that greater comfort with technology would be related to better performance on tasks of executive functioning. Method Participants were 123 community-dwelling residents aged 57-87 (M = 70.73, SD = 6.42; 92% female; 15.67 + 2.70 years of education; 98.4% White). Comfort with technology was measured with a 10-item, 5-point Likert scale. Measures of executive functioning included set-shifting (Trails Making Test B), inhibition (DKEFS Condition 3), inhibition/switching (DKEFS Condition 4), and problem-solving (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Total Correct; WCST). Controlling for age and education, correlations analyzed relationships between comfort with technology and measures of executive function. Results On average, participants expressed moderate comfort with technology (M = 38.78, SD = 7.63). Greater comfort with technology was associated with better performances on set-shifting, r (115) = -.29, p = .002, and inhibition, r (115) = -.32, p < .001, but not inhibition/switching or problem solving. Conclusion Results indicate that individuals who demonstrate better performance inhibiting automatic responses, and tracking and maintaining shifting rules felt more comfortable with technology. In contrast, the combination of inhibition/switching with word reading, and specific problem-solving demands of the WCST, were not associated with technology comfort. These findings suggest that more intuitive interfaces that minimize task-switching and complex multitasking may be more suitable for older adults.