Age difference in the use of an on-line grocery shop: implications for design

ABSTRACT

Navigation in hypermedia is a difficult task, and more so for some than for others. We have studied age differences in completing shopping tasks in a hierarchical on-line grocery store. Our results revealed that the elderly subjects needed twice as much time as the younger subjects to purchase the products. Furthermore, the elderly subjects had difficulties in finding their way back to products they have previously visited. We propose that design of on-line stores should take into account how elderly learn and navigate physical spaces. Through enhancing the process of creating personal landmarks and memory cues, elderly might find the on-line shopping experience both easier and subjectively less time consuming.

REFERENCES

• 1: Lipman, P. D. (1991). Age and exposure differences in the acquisition of route information. Psychology and Aging, Vol. 6, 128-133.
• 2: Schacter, D. L., & Nadel, L. (1991). Varieties of Spatial Memory: A Problem for Cognitive Neuroscience. In R. G. Lister, & Weingartner, H. J. (Ed.), Perspectives on Cognitive Neuroscience . New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• 3: Thorndyke, P. W., & Stasz, C. (1980). Individual differences in procedures for knowledge acquisition from maps. Cognitive Psychology(12), 137-175.

INDEX TERMS

Keywords:
aging, design, navigation, on-line shopping