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Münster ND, Schmalbrock P, Bäumer T, Hommel B, Beste C, Münchau A, Frings C. Separating binding and retrieval of event files in older adults. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2024; 244:104190. [PMID: 38368782 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2023] [Revised: 02/09/2024] [Accepted: 02/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/20/2024] Open
Abstract
In the literature on human action control, it is assumed that features of stimuli (S) and responses (R) are integrated into internal representations (so-called event files) that are involved in the execution of an action. Experimentally, the impact of this integration on action control is typically analyzed via S-R binding effects. Recent theorizing in the BRAC framework (Frings et al., 2020) suggests to disentangle the processes of S-R binding proper from S-R retrieval as two independent components contributing to S-R binding effects. Since the literature on age effects on S-R binding effects is scarce and does not provide information on whether the existing findings about the two processes can be generalized to older age groups, this is the first study addressing the effects of older age separately on S-R binding proper vs. S-R retrieval. In two established variants of S-R binding tasks (cumulative n = 262), we contrasted binding (by using a saliency manipulation at the time of binding proper) versus retrieval processes (by manipulating the onset of the distractor at the time of retrieval), replicating previous results in younger (18-30 years) and also in older healthy controls (50-70 years). We therefore found no evidence for age effects on S-R binding proper or S-R retrieval. We thus conclude that the processes contributing to S-R binding effects are - at least in the age groups analyzed in this study - robust and age-independent. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: In human action control, binding proper and retrieval of features in stimulus-response episodes typically lead to so-called S-R binding effects. Against the background of recent theorizing, binding proper and retrieval should be studied independently. In this article, we ran a younger and an older age group and analyzed possible age-related differences in integration or retrieval. Both groups showed the expected pattern for binding and retrieval as expected from the literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas D Münster
- Department of Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, University of Trier, Trier, Germany; Institute for Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience (ICAN), University of Trier, Trier, Germany.
| | - Philip Schmalbrock
- Department of Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, University of Trier, Trier, Germany; Institute for Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience (ICAN), University of Trier, Trier, Germany.
| | - Tobias Bäumer
- Institute of Systems Motor Science, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
| | - Bernhard Hommel
- Faculty of Medicine, University Neuropsychology Center, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany; Cognitive Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
| | - Christian Beste
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Cognitive Neurophysiology, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
| | - Alexander Münchau
- Institute of Systems Motor Science, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
| | - Christian Frings
- Department of Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, University of Trier, Trier, Germany; Institute for Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience (ICAN), University of Trier, Trier, Germany.
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2
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Lévesque M, Arguin M. The oscillatory features of visual processing are altered in healthy aging. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1323493. [PMID: 38449765 PMCID: PMC10914935 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1323493] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2023] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/08/2024] Open
Abstract
The temporal features of visual processing were compared between young and elderly healthy participants in visual object and word recognition tasks using the technique of random temporal sampling. The target stimuli were additively combined with a white noise field and were exposed very briefly (200 ms). Target visibility oscillated randomly throughout exposure duration by manipulating the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Classification images (CIs) based on response accuracy were calculated to reflect processing efficiency according to the time elapsed since target onset and the power of SNR oscillations in the 5-55 Hz range. CIs differed substantially across groups whereas individuals of the same group largely shared crucial features such that a machine learning algorithm reached 100% accuracy in classifying the data patterns of individual participants into their proper group. These findings demonstrate altered perceptual oscillations in healthy aging and are consistent with previous investigations showing brain oscillation anomalies in the elderly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mélanie Lévesque
- Département de Psychologie, Centre interdisciplinaire de recherche sur le cerveau et l’apprentissage, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Centre de Recherche, Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Martin Arguin
- Département de Psychologie, Centre interdisciplinaire de recherche sur le cerveau et l’apprentissage, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Centre de Recherche, Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
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3
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Zou Z, Zhao B, Ting KH, Wong C, Hou X, Chan CCH. Multisensory integration augmenting motor processes among older adults. Front Aging Neurosci 2023; 15:1293479. [PMID: 38192281 PMCID: PMC10773807 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1293479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 01/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Objective Multisensory integration enhances sensory processing in older adults. This study aimed to investigate how the sensory enhancement would modulate the motor related process in healthy older adults. Method Thirty-one older adults (12 males, mean age 67.7 years) and 29 younger adults as controls (16 males, mean age 24.9 years) participated in this study. Participants were asked to discriminate spatial information embedded in the unisensory (visual or audial) and multisensory (audiovisual) conditions. The responses made by the movements of the left and right wrists corresponding to the spatial information were registered with specially designed pads. The electroencephalogram (EEG) marker was the event-related super-additive P2 in the frontal-central region, the stimulus-locked lateralized readiness potentials (s-LRP) and response-locked lateralized readiness potentials (r-LRP). Results Older participants showed significantly faster and more accurate responses than controls in the multisensory condition than in the unisensory conditions. Both groups had significantly less negative-going s-LRP amplitudes elicited at the central sites in the between-condition contrasts. However, only the older group showed significantly less negative-going, centrally distributed r-LRP amplitudes. More importantly, only the r-LRP amplitude in the audiovisual condition significantly predicted behavioral performance. Conclusion Audiovisual integration enhances reaction time, which associates with modulated motor related processes among the older participants. The super-additive effects modulate both the motor preparation and generation processes. Interestingly, only the modulated motor generation process contributes to faster reaction time. As such effects were observed in older but not younger participants, multisensory integration likely augments motor functions in those with age-related neurodegeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhi Zou
- Department of Sport and Health, Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Benxuan Zhao
- Department of Sport and Health, Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Kin-hung Ting
- University Research Facility in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Clive Wong
- Department of Psychology, The Education University of Hong Kong, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Xiaohui Hou
- Department of Sport and Health, Guangzhou Sport University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Chetwyn C. H. Chan
- Department of Psychology, The Education University of Hong Kong, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China
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4
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Dodwell G, Liesefeld HR, Conci M, Müller HJ, Töllner T. EEG evidence for enhanced attentional performance during moderate-intensity exercise. Psychophysiology 2021; 58:e13923. [PMID: 34370887 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2021] [Revised: 06/22/2021] [Accepted: 07/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Research on attentional control within real-world contexts has become substantially more feasible and thus frequent over the past decade. However, relatively little is known regarding how these processes may be influenced by common naturalistic behaviors such as engaging in physical activity, which is thought to modulate the availability of neurometabolic resources. Here, we used an event-related potential (ERP) approach to determine whether various intensities of aerobic exercise might affect the concurrent performance of attentional control mechanisms. Participants performed an additional-singleton visual search task across three levels of aerobic activity while seated on a stationary bicycle: at rest, during moderate-intensity exercise, and during vigorous-intensity exercise. In addition to behavioral measures, attentional processing was assessed via lateralized ERPs referencing target selection (PCN) and distractor suppression (PD ) mechanisms. Whereas engaging in exercise resulted in speeded response times overall, moderate-intensity exercise was found to uniquely eliminate the expression of distractor interference by the PCN while also giving rise to an unanticipated distractor-elicited Ppc. These findings demonstrate workload-specific and object-selective influences of aerobic exercise on attentional processing, providing insights not only for approaching attention in real-world contexts but also for understanding how attentional resources are used overall.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gordon Dodwell
- Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg, Germany.,Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.,Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Heinrich R Liesefeld
- Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg, Germany.,Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.,Department of Psychology, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | - Markus Conci
- Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg, Germany.,Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Hermann J Müller
- Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg, Germany.,Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Thomas Töllner
- Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg, Germany.,Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
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5
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Wiegand I, Westenberg E, Wolfe JM. Order, please! Explicit sequence learning in hybrid search in younger and older age. Mem Cognit 2021; 49:1220-1235. [PMID: 33876402 PMCID: PMC8313466 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-021-01157-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Sequence learning effects in simple perceptual and motor tasks are largely unaffected by normal aging. However, less is known about sequence learning in more complex cognitive tasks that involve attention and memory processes and how this changes with age. In this study, we examined whether incidental and intentional sequence learning would facilitate hybrid visual and memory search in younger and older adults. Observers performed a hybrid search task, in which they memorized four or 16 target objects and searched for any of those target objects in displays with four or 16 objects. The memorized targets appeared either in a repeating sequential order or in random order. In the first experiment, observers were not told about the sequence before the experiment. Only a subset of younger adults and none of the older adults incidentally learned the sequence. The "learners" acquired explicit knowledge about the sequence and searched faster in the sequence compared to random condition. In the second experiment, observers were told about the sequence before the search task. Both younger and older adults searched faster in sequence blocks than random blocks. Older adults, however, showed this sequence-learning effect only in blocks with smaller target sets. Our findings indicate that explicit sequence knowledge can facilitate hybrid search, as it allows observers to predict the next target and restrict their visual and memory search. In older age, the sequence-learning effect is constrained by load, presumably due to age-related decline in executive functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iris Wiegand
- Donders Institute for Brain, Behavior and Cognition, Department of Neuropsychology and Rehabilitation Psychology, Radboud University, Postbus 9104, 6500, HE, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
- Visual Attention Lab, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Erica Westenberg
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Jeremy M Wolfe
- Visual Attention Lab, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Departments of Ophthalmology and Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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6
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Wiegand I, Wolfe JM. Target value and prevalence influence visual foraging in younger and older age. Vision Res 2021; 186:87-102. [PMID: 34062375 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2021.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2020] [Revised: 05/04/2021] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The prevalence and reward-value of targets have an influence on visual search. The strength of the effect of an item's reward-value on attentional selection varies substantially between individuals and is potentially sensitive to aging. We investigated individual and age differences in a hybrid foraging task, in which the prevalence and value of multiple target types was varied. Using optimal foraging theory measures, foraging was more efficient overall in younger than older observers. However, the influence of prevalence and value on target selections was similar across age groups, suggesting that the underlying cognitive mechanisms are preserved in older age. When prevalence was varied but target value was balanced, younger and older observers preferably selected the most frequent target type and were biased to select another instance of the previously selected target type. When value was varied, younger and older observers showed a tendency to select high-value targets, but preferences were more diverse between individuals. When value and prevalence were inversely related, some observers showed particularly strong preferences for high-valued target types, while others showed a preference for high-prevalent, albeit low-value, target types. In younger adults, individual differences in the selection choices correlated with a personality index, suggesting that avoiding selections of low-value targets may be related to reward-seeking behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iris Wiegand
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Department of Neuropsychology and Rehabilitation Psychology, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands; Visual Attention Lab, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Jeremy M Wolfe
- Visual Attention Lab, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Departments of Ophthalmology & Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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7
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Maldonado T, Orr JM, Goen JRM, Bernard JA. Age Differences in the Subcomponents of Executive Functioning. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2021; 75:e31-e55. [PMID: 31943092 DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbaa005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2019] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Across the life span, deficits in executive functioning (EF) are associated with poor behavioral control and failure to achieve goals. Though EF is often discussed as one broad construct, a prominent model of EF suggests that it is composed of three subdomains: inhibition, set shifting, and updating. These subdomains are seen in both younger (YA) and older adults (OA), with performance deficits across subdomains in OA. Therefore, our goal was to investigate whether subdomains of EF might be differentially affected by age, and how these differences may relate to broader global age differences in EF. METHODS To assess these age differences, we conducted a meta-analysis at multiple levels, including task level, subdomain level, and of global EF. Based on previous work, we hypothesized that there would be overall differences in EF in OA. RESULTS Using 1,268 effect sizes from 401 articles, we found overall differences in EF with age. Results suggested that differences in performance are not uniform, such that variability in age effects emerged at the task level, and updating was not as affected by age as other subdomains. DISCUSSION These findings advance our understanding of age differences in EF, and stand to inform early detection of EF decline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ted Maldonado
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station
| | - Joseph M Orr
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station.,Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience, Texas A&M University, College Station
| | - James R M Goen
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station
| | - Jessica A Bernard
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station.,Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience, Texas A&M University, College Station
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8
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Haupt M, Jödecke S, Srowig A, Napiórkowski N, Preul C, Witte OW, Finke K. Phasic alerting increases visual processing speed in amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Neurobiol Aging 2021; 102:23-31. [PMID: 33765429 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.01.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2020] [Revised: 01/12/2021] [Accepted: 01/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
External warning cues temporarily increase the brain's sensitivity for upcoming events, helping individuals to flexibly adapt their reactions to the requirements of complex visual environments. Previous studies reported that younger and cognitively normal older adults profit from phasic alerting cues. Such an intact phasic alerting mechanism could be even more relevant in individuals with Alzheimer's disease who are characterized by reduced processing capacities. The present study employed a theory of visual attention based verbal whole report paradigm with auditory cues in order to investigate phasic alerting effects in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Patients with aMCI were also compared to a previously reported sample of cognitively normal older adults. In patients with aMCI, visual processing speed was higher in the cue compared to the no-cue condition. Further, visual processing speed was reduced in patients with aMCI compared to cognitively normal older adults. Taken together, the results suggest that the processing system of patients with aMCI exhibits general declines but can still integrate auditory warning signals on a perceptual level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marleen Haupt
- Hans-Berger Department of Neurology, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany; General and Experimental Psychology, Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany; Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences (GSN), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
| | - Steffen Jödecke
- Hans-Berger Department of Neurology, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Annie Srowig
- Hans-Berger Department of Neurology, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Natan Napiórkowski
- Hans-Berger Department of Neurology, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Christoph Preul
- Hans-Berger Department of Neurology, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Otto W Witte
- Hans-Berger Department of Neurology, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Kathrin Finke
- Hans-Berger Department of Neurology, University Hospital Jena, Jena, Germany; General and Experimental Psychology, Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
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9
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Feldmann-Wüstefeld T. Neural measures of working memory in a bilateral change detection task. Psychophysiology 2020; 58:e13683. [PMID: 33215729 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13683] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2020] [Revised: 07/08/2020] [Accepted: 07/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The change detection task is a widely used paradigm to examine visual working memory processes. Participants memorize a set of items and then, try to detect changes in the set after a retention period. The negative slow wave (NSW) and contralateral delay activity (CDA) are event-related potentials in the EEG signal that are commonly used in change detection tasks to track working memory load, as both increase with the number of items maintained in working memory (set size). While the CDA was argued to more purely reflect the memory-specific neural activity than the NSW, it also requires a lateralized design and attention shifts prior to memoranda onset, imposing more restrictions on the task than the NSW. The present study proposes a novel change detection task in which both CDA and NSW can be measured at the same time. Memory items were presented bilaterally, but their distribution in the left and right hemifield varied, inducing a target imbalance or "net load." NSW increased with set size, whereas CDA increased with net load. In addition, a multivariate linear classifier was able to decode the set size and net load from the EEG signal. CDA, NSW, and decoding accuracy predicted an individual's working memory capacity. In line with the notion of a bilateral advantage in working memory, accuracy, and CDA data suggest that participants tended to encode items relatively balanced. In sum, this novel change detection task offers a basis to make use of converging neural measures of working memory in a comprehensive paradigm.
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10
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Abstract
In hybrid foraging tasks, observers search visual displays, so called patches, for multiple instances of any of several types of targets with the goal of collecting targets as quickly as possible. Here, targets were photorealistic objects. Younger and older adults collected targets by mouse clicks. They could move to the next patch whenever they decided to do so. The number of targets held in memory varied between 8 and 64 objects, and the number of items (targets and distractors) in the patches varied between 60 and 105 objects. Older adults foraged somewhat less efficiently than younger adults due to a more exploitative search strategy. When target items became depleted in a patch and search slowed down, younger adults acted according to the optimal foraging theory and moved on to the next patch when the instantaneous rate of collection was close to their average rate of collection. Older adults, by contrast, were more likely to stay longer and spend time searching for the last few targets. Within a patch, both younger and older adults tended to collect the same type of target in "runs." This behavior is more efficient than continual switching between target types. Furthermore, after correction for general age-related slowing, RT × set size functions revealed largely preserved attention and memory functions in older age. Hybrid foraging tasks share features with important real-world search tasks. Differences between younger and older observers on this task may therefore help to explain age differences in many complex search tasks of daily life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Iris Wiegand
- Visual Attention Lab, Brigham and Women's Hospital
| | | | - Jeremy Wolfe
- Visual Attention Lab, Brigham and Women's Hospital
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11
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Wiegand I, Wolfe JM. Age doesn't matter much: hybrid visual and memory search is preserved in older adults. AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2019; 27:220-253. [PMID: 31050319 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2019.1604941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
We tested younger and older observers' attention and long-term memory functions in a "hybrid search" task, in which observers look through visual displays for instances of any of several types of targets held in memory. Apart from a general slowing, search efficiency did not change with age. In both age groups, reaction times increased linearly with the visual set size and logarithmically with the memory set size, with similar relative costs of increasing load (Experiment 1). We replicated the finding and further showed that performance remained comparable between age groups when familiarity cues were made irrelevant (Experiment 2) and target-context associations were to be retrieved (Experiment 3). Our findings are at variance with theories of cognitive aging that propose age-specific deficits in attention and memory. As hybrid search resembles many real-world searches, our results might be relevant to improve the ecological validity of assessing age-related cognitive decline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iris Wiegand
- Visual Attention Lab, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany.,Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jeremy M Wolfe
- Visual Attention Lab, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Departments of Ophthalmology & Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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12
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Dodwell G, Müller HJ, Töllner T. Electroencephalographic evidence for improved visual working memory performance during standing and exercise. Br J Psychol 2018; 110:400-427. [DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2018] [Revised: 08/06/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Gordon Dodwell
- Department of Experimental Psychology Ludwig‐Maximilians‐Universität München Munich Germany
- Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences Ludwig‐Maximilians‐Universität München Planegg‐Martinsried Germany
| | - Hermann J. Müller
- Department of Experimental Psychology Ludwig‐Maximilians‐Universität München Munich Germany
- School of Psychological Sciences Birkbeck College University of London UK
| | - Thomas Töllner
- Department of Experimental Psychology Ludwig‐Maximilians‐Universität München Munich Germany
- Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences Ludwig‐Maximilians‐Universität München Planegg‐Martinsried Germany
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13
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Zurrón M, Lindín M, Cespón J, Cid-Fernández S, Galdo-Álvarez S, Ramos-Goicoa M, Díaz F. Effects of Mild Cognitive Impairment on the Event-Related Brain Potential Components Elicited in Executive Control Tasks. Front Psychol 2018; 9:842. [PMID: 29910756 PMCID: PMC5992409 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00842] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2018] [Accepted: 05/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We summarize here the findings of several studies in which we analyzed the event-related brain potentials (ERPs) elicited in participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and in healthy controls during performance of executive tasks. The objective of these studies was to investigate the neural functioning associated with executive processes in MCI. With this aim, we recorded the brain electrical activity generated in response to stimuli in three executive control tasks (Stroop, Simon, and Go/NoGo) adapted for use with the ERP technique. We found that the latencies of the ERP components associated with the evaluation and categorization of the stimuli were longer in participants with amnestic MCI than in the paired controls, particularly those with multiple-domain amnestic MCI, and that the allocation of neural resources for attending to the stimuli was weaker in participants with amnestic MCI. The MCI participants also showed deficient functioning of the response selection and preparation processes demanded by each task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Montserrat Zurrón
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Cognitiva Aplicada, Departamento de Psicoloxía Clínica e Psicobioloxía, Facultade de Psicoloxía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Mónica Lindín
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Cognitiva Aplicada, Departamento de Psicoloxía Clínica e Psicobioloxía, Facultade de Psicoloxía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Jesús Cespón
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, San Sebastián, Spain
| | - Susana Cid-Fernández
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Cognitiva Aplicada, Departamento de Psicoloxía Clínica e Psicobioloxía, Facultade de Psicoloxía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.,Sezione di Neuroscienze Cognitive - Laboratorio di Neurofisiologia, IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio, Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy
| | - Santiago Galdo-Álvarez
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Cognitiva Aplicada, Departamento de Psicoloxía Clínica e Psicobioloxía, Facultade de Psicoloxía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Marta Ramos-Goicoa
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Cognitiva Aplicada, Departamento de Psicoloxía Clínica e Psicobioloxía, Facultade de Psicoloxía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Fernando Díaz
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Cognitiva Aplicada, Departamento de Psicoloxía Clínica e Psicobioloxía, Facultade de Psicoloxía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
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Wiegand I, Petersen A, Bundesen C, Habekost T. Phasic alerting increases visual attention capacity in younger but not in older individuals. VISUAL COGNITION 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2017.1330791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Iris Wiegand
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Max-Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany
- Center for Lifespan Development, Max-Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anders Petersen
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Claus Bundesen
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Thomas Habekost
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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15
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Compliance instead of flexibility? On age-related differences in cognitive control during visual search. Neurobiol Aging 2017; 53:169-180. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2017.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2016] [Revised: 02/02/2017] [Accepted: 02/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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16
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Wiegand I, Petersen A, Finke K, Bundesen C, Lansner J, Habekost T. Behavioral and Brain Measures of Phasic Alerting Effects on Visual Attention. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:176. [PMID: 28443009 PMCID: PMC5385325 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2017] [Accepted: 03/24/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In the present study, we investigated effects of phasic alerting on visual attention in a partial report task, in which half of the displays were preceded by an auditory warning cue. Based on the computational Theory of Visual Attention (TVA), we estimated parameters of spatial and non-spatial aspects of visual attention and measured event-related lateralizations (ERLs) over visual processing areas. We found that the TVA parameter sensory effectiveness a, which is thought to reflect visual processing capacity, significantly increased with phasic alerting. By contrast, the distribution of visual processing resources according to task relevance and spatial position, as quantified in parameters top-down control α and spatial bias windex, was not modulated by phasic alerting. On the electrophysiological level, the latencies of ERLs in response to the task displays were reduced following the warning cue. These results suggest that phasic alerting facilitates visual processing in a general, unselective manner and that this effect originates in early stages of visual information processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iris Wiegand
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of CopenhagenCopenhagen, Denmark.,Center for Lifespan Development, Max-Planck Institute for Human DevelopmentBerlin, Germany.,Max-Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing ResearchBerlin, Germany
| | - Anders Petersen
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of CopenhagenCopenhagen, Denmark
| | - Kathrin Finke
- General and Experimental Psychology, Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) MunichMunich, Germany.,Hans-Berger Department of Neurology, Jena University HospitalJena, Germany
| | - Claus Bundesen
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of CopenhagenCopenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jon Lansner
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of CopenhagenCopenhagen, Denmark
| | - Thomas Habekost
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of CopenhagenCopenhagen, Denmark
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17
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Mazza V, Brignani D. Electrophysiological Advances on Multiple Object Processing in Aging. Front Aging Neurosci 2016; 8:46. [PMID: 26973520 PMCID: PMC4773734 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2016.00046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2015] [Accepted: 02/22/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
EEG research conducted in the past 5 years on multiple object processing has begun to define how the aging brain tracks the numerosity of the objects presented in the visual field for different goals. We review the recent EEG findings in healthy older individuals (age range: 65-75 years approximately) on perceptual, attentional and memory mechanisms-reflected in the N1, N2pc and contralateral delayed activity (CDA) components of the EEG, respectively-during the execution of a variety of cognitive tasks requiring simultaneous processing of multiple elements. The findings point to multiple loci of neural changes in multi-object analysis, and suggest the involvement of early perceptual mechanisms, attentive individuation and working memory (WM) operations in the neural and cognitive modification due to aging. However, the findings do not simply reflect early impairments with a cascade effect over subsequent stages of stimulus processing, but in fact highlight interesting dissociations between the effects occurring at the various stages of stimulus processing. Finally, the results on older adults indicate the occurrence of neural overactivation in association to good levels of performance in easy perceptual contexts, thus providing some hints on the existence of compensatory phenomena that are associated with the functioning of early perceptual mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronica Mazza
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of TrentoRovereto, Italy; IRCSS Centro San Giovanni di Dio, FatebenefratelliBrescia, Italy
| | - Debora Brignani
- IRCSS Centro San Giovanni di Dio, Fatebenefratelli Brescia, Italy
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18
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Lorenzo-López L, Maseda A, Buján A, de Labra C, Amenedo E, Millán-Calenti JC. Preserved Suppression of Salient Irrelevant Stimuli During Visual Search in Age-Associated Memory Impairment. Front Psychol 2016; 6:2033. [PMID: 26793148 PMCID: PMC4709474 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2015] [Accepted: 12/21/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have suggested that older adults with age-associated memory impairment (AAMI) may show a significant decline in attentional resource capacity and inhibitory processes in addition to memory impairment. In the present paper, the potential attentional capture by task-irrelevant stimuli was examined in older adults with AAMI compared to healthy older adults using scalp-recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs). ERPs were recorded during the execution of a visual search task, in which the participants had to detect the presence of a target stimulus that differed from distractors by orientation. To explore the automatic attentional capture phenomenon, an irrelevant distractor stimulus defined by a different feature (color) was also presented without previous knowledge of the participants. A consistent N2pc, an electrophysiological indicator of attentional deployment, was present for target stimuli but not for task-irrelevant color stimuli, suggesting that these irrelevant distractors did not attract attention in AAMI older adults. Furthermore, the N2pc for targets was significantly delayed in AAMI patients compared to healthy older controls. Together, these findings suggest a specific impairment of the attentional selection process of relevant target stimuli in these individuals and indicate that the mechanism of top-down suppression of entirely task-irrelevant stimuli is preserved, at least when the target and the irrelevant stimuli are perceptually very different.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Lorenzo-López
- Gerontology Research Group, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidade da Coruña A Coruña, Spain
| | - Ana Maseda
- Gerontology Research Group, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidade da Coruña A Coruña, Spain
| | - Ana Buján
- Gerontology Research Group, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidade da Coruña A Coruña, Spain
| | - Carmen de Labra
- Research, Development and Innovation Department, Gerontological Complex La Milagrosa, Provincial Association of Pensioners and Retired People (UDP) from A Coruña A Coruña, Spain
| | - Elena Amenedo
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - José C Millán-Calenti
- Gerontology Research Group, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidade da Coruña A Coruña, Spain
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19
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Wiegand I, Finke K, Töllner T, Starman K, Müller HJ, Conci M. Age-related decline in global form suppression. Biol Psychol 2015; 112:116-24. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2015.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2015] [Revised: 09/30/2015] [Accepted: 10/15/2015] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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20
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Cross-Villasana F, Finke K, Hennig-Fast K, Kilian B, Wiegand I, Müller HJ, Möller HJ, Töllner T. The Speed of Visual Attention and Motor-Response Decisions in Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Biol Psychiatry 2015; 78:107-15. [PMID: 25773661 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.01.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2014] [Revised: 12/16/2014] [Accepted: 01/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit slowed reaction times (RTs) in various attention tasks. The exact origins of this slowing, however, have not been established. Potential candidates are early sensory processes mediating the deployment of focal attention, stimulus response translation processes deciding upon the appropriate motor response, and motor processes generating the response. METHODS We combined mental chronometry (RT) measures of adult ADHD (n = 15) and healthy control (n = 15) participants with their lateralized event-related potentials during the performance of a visual search task to differentiate potential sources of slowing at separable levels of processing: the posterior contralateral negativity (PCN) was used to index focal-attentional selection times, while the lateralized readiness potentials synchronized to stimulus and response events were used to index the times taken for response selection and production, respectively. To assess the clinical relevance of event-related potentials, a correlation analysis between neural measures and subjective current and retrospective ADHD symptom ratings was performed. RESULTS ADHD patients exhibited slower RTs than control participants, which were accompanied by prolonged PCN and lateralized readiness potentials synchronized to stimulus, but not lateralized readiness potentials synchronized to response events, latencies. Moreover, the PCN timing was positively correlated with ADHD symptom ratings. CONCLUSIONS The behavioral RT slowing of adult ADHD patients was based on a summation of internal processing delays arising at perceptual and response selection stages; motor response production, by contrast, was not impaired. The correlation between PCN times and ADHD symptom ratings suggests that this brain signal may serve as a potential candidate for a neurocognitive endophenotype of ADHD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fernando Cross-Villasana
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität-München, Germany.; Department of Sport-and-Health-Science, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Kathrin Finke
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität-München, Germany.; Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, Københavns Universitet, København, Denmark.. /de
| | - Kristina Hennig-Fast
- Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.; Faculty of Psychology, Universität Wien, Vienna, Austria
| | - Beate Kilian
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität-München, Germany.; Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Iris Wiegand
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität-München, Germany.; Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, Københavns Universitet, København, Denmark
| | - Hermann Joseph Müller
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität-München, Germany.; Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Hans-Jürgen Möller
- School of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Thomas Töllner
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität-München, Germany.; Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität-München, Munich, Germany
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21
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The Right Angular Gyrus Combines Perceptual and Response-related Expectancies in Visual Search: TMS-EEG Evidence. Brain Stimul 2015; 8:816-22. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2015.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2014] [Revised: 01/27/2015] [Accepted: 02/01/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
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22
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Electrophysiological Correlates of Subitizing in Healthy Aging. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0131063. [PMID: 26098959 PMCID: PMC4476746 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0131063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2014] [Accepted: 05/28/2015] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
To understand the nature of age-related changes in enumeration abilities we measured two ERP responses -N2pc and CDA, associated respectively to attentive individuation and VWM- and posterior alpha band (8-15 Hz) event-related desynchronization (ERD), traditionally linked to enhanced target processing. Two groups of old and young participants enumerated a variable number (1-6) of targets presented among distractors. Older participants were less accurate in enumerating targets. ERP results in old participants showed a suppression of N2pc amplitudes for all numerosities, and a decrease in CDA only for the largest set (4-6 targets). In contrast with the pattern for young adults, time/frequency results on older adults revealed neither a modulation of alpha oscillations as a function of target numerosity, nor an effect of ERD lateralization. These patterns indicate that both attention and working memory contribute to the age-related decline in enumeration, and point to an overall decrease in the activity of the visual areas responsible for the processing of the hemifield where the relevant objects are presented.
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23
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Lagroix HEP, Grubert A, Spalek TM, Di Lollo V, Eimer M. Visual search is postponed during the period of the AB: An event-related potential study. Psychophysiology 2015; 52:1031-8. [DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2014] [Accepted: 02/25/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Hayley E. P. Lagroix
- Department of Psychology; Simon Fraser University; Burnaby British Columbia Canada
| | - Anna Grubert
- Department of Psychological Sciences; Birkbeck College; University of London; London UK
| | - Thomas M. Spalek
- Department of Psychology; Simon Fraser University; Burnaby British Columbia Canada
| | - Vincent Di Lollo
- Department of Psychology; Simon Fraser University; Burnaby British Columbia Canada
| | - Martin Eimer
- Department of Psychological Sciences; Birkbeck College; University of London; London UK
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24
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Mott KK, Alperin BR, Fox AM, Holcomb PJ, Daffner KR. The impact of executive capacity and age on mechanisms underlying multidimensional feature selection. Neuropsychologia 2015; 70:30-42. [PMID: 25660207 PMCID: PMC4402256 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2014] [Revised: 01/28/2015] [Accepted: 02/02/2015] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
This study examined the role of executive capacity (EC) and aging in multidimensional feature selection. ERPs were recorded from healthy young and old adults of either high or average EC based on neuropsychological testing. Participants completed a color selective attention task in which they responded to target letter-forms in a specified color (attend condition) while ignoring letter-forms in a different color (ignore condition). Two selection negativity (SN) components were computed: the SN(Color) (attend-ignore), indexing early color selection, and the SN(Letter) (targets-standards), indexing early letter-form selection. High EC subjects exhibited self-terminating feature selection; the processing of one feature type was reduced if information from the other feature type suggested the stimulus did not contain the task-relevant feature. In contrast, average EC subjects exhaustively selected all features of a stimulus. The self-terminating approach was associated with better task accuracy. Higher EC was also linked to stronger early selection of target letter-forms, but did not modulate the seemingly less demanding task of color selection. Mechanisms utilized for multidimensional feature selection appear to be consistent across the lifespan, although there was age-related slowing of processing speed for early selection of letter features. We conclude that EC is a critical determinant of how multidimensional feature processing is carried out.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine K Mott
- Center for Brain/Mind Medicine, Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 221 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Brittany R Alperin
- Center for Brain/Mind Medicine, Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 221 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Anne M Fox
- Center for Brain/Mind Medicine, Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 221 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Phillip J Holcomb
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University, 490 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155, USA.
| | - Kirk R Daffner
- Center for Brain/Mind Medicine, Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 221 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
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25
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Töllner T, Mink M, Müller HJ. Searching for targets in visual working memory: investigating a dimensional feature bundle (DFB) model. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2015; 1339:32-44. [PMID: 25716303 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.12703] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The human visual working memory (WM) system enables us to store a limited amount of task-relevant visual information temporally in mind. One actively debated issue in cognitive neuroscience centers around the question of how this WM information is maintained. The currently dominant views advocated by prominent WM models hold that the units of memory are configured either as independent feature representations, integrated bound objects, or a combination of both. Here, we approached this issue by measuring lateralized brain electrical activity during a retro-cue paradigm, in order to track people's ability to access WM representations as a function of the dimensional relation between WM items and task settings. Both factors were revealed to selectively influence WM access: whereas cross relative to intradimensional WM targets gave rise to enhanced contralateral delay activity (CDA) amplitudes, localization relative to identification task demands yielded speeded CDA and manual response times. As these dimension-based findings are not reconcilable with contemporary feature- and/or object-based accounts, an alternative view that is based on the hierarchical feature-bundle model is proposed. We argue that WM units may consist of three hierarchically structured levels of representations, with an intermediate dimensionally organized level that mediates between top-level object and lower-level feature representations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Töllner
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany; Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
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26
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Becker SI, Grubert A, Dux PE. Distinct neural networks for target feature versus dimension changes in visual search, as revealed by EEG and fMRI. Neuroimage 2014; 102 Pt 2:798-808. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.08.058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2014] [Revised: 08/21/2014] [Accepted: 08/31/2014] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
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27
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Töllner T, Conci M, Müller HJ. Predictive distractor context facilitates attentional selection of high, but not intermediate and low, salience targets. Hum Brain Mapp 2014; 36:935-44. [PMID: 25351495 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22677] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2014] [Revised: 10/18/2014] [Accepted: 10/21/2014] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
It is well established that we can focally attend to a specific region in visual space without shifting our eyes, so as to extract action-relevant sensory information from covertly attended locations. The underlying mechanisms that determine how fast we engage our attentional spotlight in visual-search scenarios, however, remain controversial. One dominant view advocated by perceptual decision-making models holds that the times taken for focal-attentional selection are mediated by an internal template that biases perceptual coding and selection decisions exclusively through target-defining feature coding. This notion directly predicts that search times remain unaffected whether or not participants can anticipate the upcoming distractor context. Here we tested this hypothesis by employing an illusory-figure localization task that required participants to search for an invariant target amongst a variable distractor context, which gradually changed--either randomly or predictably--as a function of distractor-target similarity. We observed a graded decrease in internal focal-attentional selection times--correlated with external behavioral latencies--for distractor contexts of higher relative to lower similarity to the target. Critically, for low but not intermediate and high distractor-target similarity, these context-driven effects were cortically and behaviorally amplified when participants could reliably predict the type of distractors. This interactive pattern demonstrates that search guidance signals can integrate information about distractor, in addition to target, identities to optimize distractor-target competition for focal-attentional selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Töllner
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany; Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
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28
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Wiegand I, Töllner T, Dyrholm M, Müller HJ, Bundesen C, Finke K. Neural correlates of age-related decline and compensation in visual attention capacity. Neurobiol Aging 2014; 35:2161-73. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2014.02.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2013] [Revised: 01/09/2014] [Accepted: 02/26/2014] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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29
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Gokce A, Geyer T, Finke K, Müller HJ, Töllner T. What pops out in positional priming of pop-out: insights from event-related EEG lateralizations. Front Psychol 2014; 5:688. [PMID: 25071658 PMCID: PMC4078256 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00688] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2014] [Accepted: 06/15/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
It is well established that, in visual pop-out search, reaction time (RT) performance is influenced by cross-trial repetitions versus changes of target-defining attributes. One instance of this is referred to as “positional priming of pop-out” (pPoP; Maljkovic and Nakayama, 1996). In positional PoP paradigms, the processing of the current target is examined depending on whether it occurs at the previous target or a previous distractor location, relative to a previously empty location (“neutral” baseline), permitting target facilitation and distractor inhibition to be dissociated. The present study combined RT measures with specific sensory- and motor-driven event-related lateralizations to track the time course of four distinct processing levels as a function of the target’s position across consecutive trials. The results showed that, relative to targets at previous target and “neutral” locations, the appearance of a target at a previous distractor location was associated with a delayed build-up of the posterior contralateral negativity wave, indicating that distractor positions are suppressed at early stages of visual processing. By contrast, presentation of a target at a previous target, relative to “neutral” and distractor locations, modulated the elicitation of the subsequent stimulus-locked lateralized readiness potential wave, indicating that post-selective response selection is facilitated if the target occurred at the same position as on the previous trial. Overall, the results of present study provide electrophysiological evidence for the idea that target location priming (RT benefits) does not originate from an enhanced coding of target saliency at repeated (target) locations; instead, they arise (near-) exclusively from processing levels subsequent to focal-attentional target selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ahu Gokce
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
| | - Thomas Geyer
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
| | - Kathrin Finke
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
| | - Hermann J Müller
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany ; School of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London London, UK
| | - Thomas Töllner
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany ; Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München München, Germany
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30
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Berchicci M, Lucci G, Perri RL, Spinelli D, Di Russo F. Benefits of physical exercise on basic visuo-motor functions across age. Front Aging Neurosci 2014; 6:48. [PMID: 24672482 PMCID: PMC3955899 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2014.00048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2013] [Accepted: 03/03/2014] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Motor performance deficits of older adults are due to dysfunction at multiple levels. Age-related differences have been documented on executive functions; motor control becomes more reliant on cognitive control mechanisms, including the engagement of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), possibly compensating for age-related sensorimotor declines. Since at functional level the PFC showed the largest age-related differences during discriminative response task, we wonder whether those effects are mainly due to the cognitive difficulty in stimulus discrimination or they could be also detected in a much easier task. In the present study, we measured the association of physical exercise with the PFC activation and response times (RTs) using a simple response task (SRT), in which the participants were asked to respond as quickly as possible by manual key-press to visual stimuli. Simultaneous behavioral (RTs) and electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings were performed on 84 healthy participants aged 19-86 years. The whole sample was divided into three cohorts (young, middle-aged, and older); each cohort was further divided into two equal sub-cohorts (exercise and not-exercise) based on a self-report questionnaire measuring physical exercise. The EEG signal was segmented in epochs starting 1100 prior to stimulus onset and lasting 2 s. Behavioral results showed age effects, indicating a slowing of RTs with increasing age. The EEG results showed a significant interaction between age and exercise on the activities recorded on the PFC. The results indicates that: (a) the brain of older adults needs the PFC engagement also to perform elementary task, such as the SRT, while this activity is not necessary in younger adults, (b) physical exercise could reduce this age-related reliance on extra cognitive control also during the performance of a SRT, and (c) the activity of the PFC is a sensitive index of the benefits of physical exercise on sensorimotor decline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marika Berchicci
- Department of Human Movement, Social and Health Sciences, University of Rome “Foro Italico”, Rome, Italy
| | - Giuliana Lucci
- Neuropsychological Unit, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Rinaldo Livio Perri
- Department of Human Movement, Social and Health Sciences, University of Rome “Foro Italico”, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy
| | - Donatella Spinelli
- Department of Human Movement, Social and Health Sciences, University of Rome “Foro Italico”, Rome, Italy
- Neuropsychological Unit, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Francesco Di Russo
- Department of Human Movement, Social and Health Sciences, University of Rome “Foro Italico”, Rome, Italy
- Neuropsychological Unit, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
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Killikelly C, Szűcs D. Asymmetry in stimulus and response conflict processing across the adult lifespan: ERP and EMG evidence. Cortex 2013; 49:2888-903. [PMID: 24134924 PMCID: PMC3878767 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2013.08.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2012] [Revised: 12/05/2012] [Accepted: 08/29/2013] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Several studies have shown that conflict processing improves from childhood to adulthood and declines from adulthood to old age. However the neural mechanisms underlying this lifespan asymmetry were previously unexplored. We combined event-related potentials (ERPs) and electromyography (EMG) to examine lifespan changes in stimulus and response conflict processing using a modified Stroop task. We used a Stroop task that a priori dissociated stimulus and response conflict. Delayed P3b latency and increased amplitude revealed that middle age adults have a deficit in stimulus processing. Additionally a sustained P3a across frontal and central electrodes occurred only in middle age adults indicating the recruitment of frontal activity. Conversely, decreased lateralized readiness potential (LRP) amplitude and increased EMG activity in the incorrect hand in adolescents reveal protracted development of response processing into late adolescence. The N450, a measure of conflict processing, was found to be sensitive to both stimulus and response conflict. Altogether these results provide evidence for asymmetrical differences in stimulus and response conflict processing across adolescence, young adulthood and middle age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clare Killikelly
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
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Wiegand I, Töllner T, Habekost T, Dyrholm M, Müller HJ, Finke K. Distinct neural markers of TVA-based visual processing speed and short-term storage capacity parameters. Cereb Cortex 2013; 24:1967-78. [PMID: 23535180 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bht071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
An individual's visual attentional capacity is characterized by 2 central processing resources, visual perceptual processing speed and visual short-term memory (vSTM) storage capacity. Based on Bundesen's theory of visual attention (TVA), independent estimates of these parameters can be obtained from mathematical modeling of performance in a whole report task. The framework's neural interpretation (NTVA) further suggests distinct brain mechanisms underlying these 2 functions. Using an interindividual difference approach, the present study was designed to establish the respective ERP correlates of both parameters. Participants with higher compared to participants with lower processing speed were found to show significantly reduced visual N1 responses, indicative of higher efficiency in early visual processing. By contrast, for participants with higher relative to lower vSTM storage capacity, contralateral delay activity over visual areas was enhanced while overall nonlateralized delay activity was reduced, indicating that holding (the maximum number of) items in vSTM relies on topographically specific sustained activation within the visual system. Taken together, our findings show that the 2 main aspects of visual attentional capacity are reflected in separable neurophysiological markers, validating a central assumption of NTVA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iris Wiegand
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich 80802, Germany Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried 82152, Germany
| | - Thomas Töllner
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich 80802, Germany
| | - Thomas Habekost
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, DK-1353 CopenhagenK, Denmark
| | - Mads Dyrholm
- Center for Visual Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, DK-1353 CopenhagenK, Denmark
| | - Hermann J Müller
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich 80802, Germany Department of Psychology, Birkbeck College, London WC1E 7HX, UK
| | - Kathrin Finke
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich 80802, Germany Neuro-Cognitive Psychology und Center for Interdisciplinary Research, University Bielefeld, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
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Töllner T, Strobach T, Schubert T, Müller HJ. The effect of task order predictability in audio-visual dual task performance: Just a central capacity limitation? Front Integr Neurosci 2012; 6:75. [PMID: 22973208 PMCID: PMC3438480 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2012.00075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2012] [Accepted: 08/27/2012] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
In classic Psychological-Refractory-Period (PRP) dual-task paradigms, decreasing stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA) between the two tasks typically lead to increasing reaction times (RT) to the second task and, when task order is non-predictable, to prolonged RTs to the first task. Traditionally, both RT effects have been advocated to originate exclusively from the dynamics of a central bottleneck. By focusing on two specific electroencephalographic brain responses directly linkable to perceptual or motor processing stages, respectively, the present study aimed to provide a more detailed picture as to the origin(s) of these behavioral PRP effects. In particular, we employed 2-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) tasks requiring participants to identify the pitch of a tone (high versus low) in the auditory, and the orientation of a target object (vertical versus horizontal) in the visual, task, with task order being either predictable or non-predictable. Our findings show that task order predictability (TOP) and inter-task SOA interactively determine the speed of (visual) perceptual processes (as indexed by the PCN timing) for both the first and the second task. By contrast, motor response execution times (as indexed by the LRP timing) are influenced independently by TOP for the first, and SOA for the second, task. Overall, this set of findings complements classical as well as advanced versions of the central bottleneck model by providing electrophysiological evidence for modulations of both perceptual and motor processing dynamics that, in summation with central capacity limitations, give rise to the behavioral PRP outcome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Töllner
- Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Munich, Germany
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