Cognitive differences of younger and older adults in skeuomorphic or flat icons
通过图标匹配和oddball任务，发现年轻人对扁平图标反应更快，而老年人对拟物化图标有更强的脑电波反应，有助于设计师针对不同年龄优化图标设计。
This research utilised an icon-matching task and an oddball task to investigate the cognitive differences between skeuomorphic and flat icon styles in visual search among younger and older adults. The results of the icon-matching task revealed a significant main effect of age, with younger participants having shorter response times than older participants, and an interaction effect between icon style and age was observed. Moreover, correlation analysis indicated that icon-matching performance strongly correlated with participants' cognitive preferences. To further explore the impact of icon styles on age-related cognitive mechanisms, the oddball task results indicated that younger participants evoked larger P200 and P300 amplitudes for flat icons, while older participants for skeuomorphic icons. A stronger correlation between icon-matching performance and users' cognitive preferences corresponds to a more significant difference in the P200 and P300 amplitudes evoked by flat and skeuomorphic icons. This finding helps designers improve user experience across different age groups.