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Apa Z, Gilsoul J, Dideberg V, Collette F. Association between executive functions and COMT Val108/158Met polymorphism among healthy younger and older adults: A preliminary study. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0303343. [PMID: 38739620 PMCID: PMC11090336 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0303343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 04/21/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Genetic variability in the dopaminergic system could contribute to age-related impairments in executive control. In this study, we examined whether genetic polymorphism for catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT Val158Met) is related to performance on updating, shifting and inhibition tasks. METHODS We administered a battery of executive tasks assessing updating, shifting and inhibition functions to 45 older and 55 younger healthy participants, and created composite z-scores associated to each function. Six groups were created based on genetic alleles (Val/Val, Val/Met, Met/Met) derived from the COMT gene and age (younger, older). Age and genotype effects were assessed with t-test and ANOVA (p<0.05). RESULTS A lower performance was observed in the older group for the three executive processes, and more particularly for inhibition. Moreover, older participants homozygous for the Val allele have a lower performance on the inhibition composite in comparison to younger Val/Val. CONCLUSIONS These results confirm presence of executive performance decrease in healthy aging. With regard to genetic effect, older participants seem particularly disadvantaged when they have a lower baseline dopamine level (i.e., Val/Val homozygous) that is magnified by aging, and when the executive measure emphasize the need of stable representations (as in inhibition task requiring to maintain active the instruction to not perform an automated process).
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Affiliation(s)
- Zoltan Apa
- GIGA-CRC In Vivo Imaging, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgique
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgique
| | - Jessica Gilsoul
- GIGA-CRC In Vivo Imaging, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgique
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgique
| | | | - Fabienne Collette
- GIGA-CRC In Vivo Imaging, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgique
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgique
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2
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Marko M, Michalko D, Dragašek J, Vančová Z, Jarčušková D, Riečanský I. Assessment of Automatic and Controlled Retrieval Using Verbal Fluency Tasks. Assessment 2023; 30:2198-2211. [PMID: 35979927 PMCID: PMC10478347 DOI: 10.1177/10731911221117512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Category and letter verbal fluency assessment is widely used in basic and clinical research. Yet, the nature of the processes measured by such means remains a matter of debate. To delineate automatic (free-associative) versus controlled (dissociative) retrieval processes involved in verbal fluency tasks, we carried out a psychometric study combining a novel lexical-semantic retrieval paradigm and structural equation modeling. We show that category fluency primarily engages a free-associative retrieval, whereas letter fluency exerts executive suppression of habitual semantic associates. Importantly, the models demonstrated that this dissociation is parametric rather than absolute, exhibiting a degree of unity as well as diversity among the retrieval measures. These findings and further exploratory analyses validate that category and letter fluency tasks reflect partially distinct forms of memory search and retrieval control, warranting different application in basic research and clinical assessment. Finally, we conclude that the novel associative-dissociative paradigm provides straightforward and useful behavioral measures for the assessment and differentiation of automatic versus controlled retrieval ability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Marko
- Centre of Experimental Medicine, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
- Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Drahomír Michalko
- Centre of Experimental Medicine, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | | | | | | | - Igor Riečanský
- Centre of Experimental Medicine, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
- University of Vienna, Austria
- Slovak Medical University in Bratislava, Slovakia
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3
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Manelis A, Hu H, Miceli R, Satz S, Schwalbe M. Neural correlates of the sound facilitation effect in the modified Simon task in older adults. Front Aging Neurosci 2023; 15:1207707. [PMID: 37644962 PMCID: PMC10461020 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1207707] [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: 04/18/2023] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction The ability to resolve interference declines with age and is attributed to neurodegeneration and reduced cognitive function and mental alertness in older adults. Our previous study revealed that task-irrelevant but environmentally meaningful sounds improve performance on the modified Simon task in older adults. However, little is known about neural correlates of this sound facilitation effect. Methods Twenty right-handed older adults [mean age = 72 (SD = 4), 11 female] participated in the fMRI study. They performed the modified Simon task in which the arrows were presented either in the locations matching the arrow direction (congruent trials) or in the locations mismatching the arrow direction (incongruent trials). A total of 50% of all trials were accompanied by task-irrelevant but environmentally meaningful sounds. Results Participants were faster on the trials with concurrent sounds, independently of whether trials were congruent or incongruent. The sound effect was associated with activation in the distributed network of auditory, posterior parietal, frontal, and limbic brain regions. The magnitude of the behavioral facilitation effect due to sound was associated with the changes in activation of the bilateral auditory cortex, cuneal cortex, and occipital fusiform gyrus, precuneus, left superior parietal lobule (SPL) for No Sound vs. Sound trials. These changes were associated with the corresponding changes in reaction time (RT). Older adults with a recent history of falls showed greater activation in the left SPL than those without falls history. Conclusion Our findings are consistent with the dedifferentiation hypothesis of cognitive aging. The facilitatory effect of sound could be achieved through recruitment of excessive neural resources, which allows older adults to increase attention and mental alertness during task performance. Considering that the SPL is critical for integration of multisensory information, individuals with slower task responses and those with a history of falls may need to recruit this region more actively than individuals with faster responses and those without a fall history to overcome increased difficulty with interference resolution. Future studies should examine the relationship among activation in the SPL, the effect of sound, and falls history in the individuals who are at heightened risk of falls.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Manelis
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Hang Hu
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Rachel Miceli
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Skye Satz
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Marie Schwalbe
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
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4
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El Haj M, Boutoleau-Bretonnière C, Chapelet G. The Pupil Knows: Pupil Dilation Indexes and Their Inhibitory Ability in Normal Aging. J Clin Med 2023; 12:4778. [PMID: 37510893 PMCID: PMC10380960 DOI: 10.3390/jcm12144778] [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: 06/26/2023] [Revised: 07/11/2023] [Accepted: 07/16/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Pupil dilation is considered an index of cognitive effort, as the pupil typically dilates as the cognitive load increases. In this paper, we evaluated whether older adults demonstrate increased pupil size when performing tasks requiring cognitive inhibition. We invited 44 older and 44 younger adults to perform the Stroop task while their pupil dilation was recorded with eye-tracking glasses. The dependent variables were the number of accurate responses on the Stroop task as well as pupil size in the three conditions of the task (i.e., color naming, word reading, and the interference condition). The results demonstrated less accurate responses in the interference condition than in the color-naming or word-reading conditions, in both older and younger adults. Critically, larger pupil dilation was observed in the interference condition than in the color-naming and word-reading conditions, in both older and younger adults. This study demonstrates that pupil dilation responds to cognitive effort in normal aging, at least in the interference condition of the Stroop task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamad El Haj
- Institut Universitaire de France, 75000 Paris, France
- CHU Nantes, Clinical Gerontology Department, Bd Jacques Monod, 44093 Nantes, France
- LPPL-Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire, Faculté de Psychologie, Université de Nantes, Chemin de la Censive du Tertre, BP 81227, Cedex 3, 44312 Nantes, France
| | - Claire Boutoleau-Bretonnière
- CHU Nantes, Inserm CIC04, Département de Neurologie, Centre Mémoire de Ressources et Recherche, 44000 Nantes, France
| | - Guillaume Chapelet
- CHU Nantes, Clinical Gerontology Department, Bd Jacques Monod, 44093 Nantes, France
- Inserm, TENS, The Enteric Nervous System in Gut and Brain Diseases, Université de Nantes, 44000 Nantes, France
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5
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Kujala J, Maria Alexandrou A, Lapinkero HM, Stigsdotter-Neely A, Sipilä S, Parviainen T. Beta-band MEG signal power changes in older adults after physical exercise program with and without additional cognitive training. Brain Cogn 2023; 165:105929. [PMID: 36436387 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2022.105929] [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: 06/21/2022] [Revised: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 11/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Physical exercise has been considered to be an efficient mean of preserving cognitive function and it influences both the structural and functional characteristics of the brain. It has especially been shown to increase brain plasticity, the capacity to re-structure brain properties in response to interaction, such as cognitive practice. Studies have also examined the potential additive effect of cognitive training on the documented benefit of physical exercise, commonly, however, not at the neural level. We monitored, using magnetoencephalography (MEG), the brain processes associated with executive functions in older individuals who participated in a 12-month randomized controlled trial including two research arms: physical and cognitive training vs physical training alone. Measurements were conducted at 0 months, 6 months, and 12 months. The addition of cognitive training was associated with better performance in the Stroop test that reflects executive control. The extra benefit of cognitive training was also manifested as decreased modulation of beta frequency band (15-25 Hz) especially to difficult distractors. As beta band activity is associated with attentional control, this indicates fewer resources needed to inhibit irrelevant sensory inputs. These results imply an enhancing role of cognitive elements integrated with physical training in improving or maintaining executive functions in older individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Kujala
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland; Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research (CIBR), Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Anna Maria Alexandrou
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland; Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research (CIBR), Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Hanna-Maija Lapinkero
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland; Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research (CIBR), Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Anna Stigsdotter-Neely
- Department of Health, Learning and Technology, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden; Department of Social and Psychological Studies, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden
| | - Sarianna Sipilä
- Gerontology Research Center and Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Tiina Parviainen
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland; Centre for Interdisciplinary Brain Research (CIBR), Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
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6
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Corlier FW, Eich TS. Principal component analysis suggests multiple dimensions of memory inhibition that are differentially affected by age. Front Psychol 2023; 13:1020915. [PMID: 36825240 PMCID: PMC9941998 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1020915] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2022] [Accepted: 12/21/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Cognitive inhibition is among the executive functions that decline early in the course of normal aging. Failures to be able to inhibit irrelevant information from memory may represent an essential factor of age-associated memory impairment. While a variety of elaborate behavioral tasks have been developed that presumably all index memory inhibition, the extent to which these different tasks measure the same underlying cognitive construct that declines with age has not been well explored. Methods In the current study, 100 and 75 cognitively healthy younger (n = 71; age = 30.7 ± 5.4 years, 56.7% female) and older (n = 104, age = 69.3 ± 5.9 years, 66.2% female) adults with equivalent educational attainment performed three computer-based memory inhibition tasks: the Retrieval Induced Forgetting task, the Suppress task, and the Directed Forgetting task. We conducted a principal component analysis using scores derived from different components of these tasks to explore whether and how the tasks relate to one another. We further investigated how age, sex and education, along with, in a subsample of the participants, a neuropsychological measure of episodic memory, impacted both the task scores individually, and the principal components derived from the exploratory analysis. Results We identified 3 distinct sources of variability which represent potentially independent cognitive processes: memory retrieval facilitation, and two memory inhibition processes that distinguished themselves by the degree of volitional initiation of memory suppression. Only the memory retrieval component correlated with a neuropsychologically-derived episodic memory score, and both memory inhibition principal components were age dependent. Conclusion Our findings provide support for a distinction in memory suppression processes between those 'instructed' to be performed and those which happen without explicit instruction. This distinction adds nuance to the dichotomous classification of controlled vs. automatic inhibitory mechanisms, which have been shown in previous work to vary as a function of the degree of frontal involvement. Our findings further demonstrate that while both of these measures of inhibition were affected by age, the episodic memory component was not, suggesting that inhibitory impairments may precede memory deficits in healthy aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabian W. Corlier
- Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
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7
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Blankenship TL, Calkins SD, Bell MA. The Role of Executive Functions in Item Recognition and Temporal Order Memory Development. JOURNAL OF COGNITION AND DEVELOPMENT 2022; 23:135-147. [PMID: 35264909 PMCID: PMC8901123 DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2021.1964504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Item recognition and temporal order memory follow different developmental trajectories during middle childhood, with item recognition performance stabilizing and temporal order memory performance continuing to improve. We investigated the potential unique role of individual executive functions on item recognition and temporal order memory during this critical development period. Our results replicate and expand on previous findings, suggesting that executive functions, specifically inhibitory control and working memory, may be more crucial for successful temporal order memory than for item recognition during middle childhood.
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8
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Jantz TK, Festini SB, Reuter-Lorenz PA. Failing to forget? Evidence for both impaired and preserved working memory control in older adults. NEUROPSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENT, AND COGNITION. SECTION B, AGING, NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2021; 28:884-906. [PMID: 33141653 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2020.1839012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2020] [Accepted: 10/14/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Voluntary forgetting is accomplished via top-down control over memory contents. Age-related declines in cognitive control may compromise voluntary forgetting. Using a working-memory variant of a directed forgetting task, we examined age differences in forgetting efficacy by analyzing direct measures of memory accuracy and two indirect measures of retention: proactive interference and semantic distortions. The directed forgetting effect in long-term memory was virtually absent in older adults. Further, compared to young adults, older adults recognized fewer to-be-remembered and more to-be-forgotten items in working memory. However, indirect measures of forgetting efficacy suggest some spared ability to control working memory contents in older adults: Both young and older adult participants exhibited reduced proactive interference for to-be-forgotten words (Experiment 1) and reduced semantic errors to to-be-forgotten list associates (Experiment 2) in working memory. Indirect memory measures of forgetting efficacy can provide a fuller understanding of spared and impaired control processes in older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tiffany K Jantz
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Sara B Festini
- Department of Psychology, University of Tampa, Tampa, FL, USA
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9
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Chen PY, Chen CL, Tseng HM, Hsu YC, Huang CWC, Chan WP, Tseng WYI. Differential Associations of White Matter Brain Age With Language-Related Mechanisms in Word-Finding Ability Across the Adult Lifespan. Front Aging Neurosci 2021; 13:701565. [PMID: 34539378 PMCID: PMC8446673 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.701565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2021] [Accepted: 07/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Research on cognitive aging has established that word-finding ability declines progressively in late adulthood, whereas semantic mechanism in the language system is relatively stable. The aim of the present study was to investigate the associations of word-finding ability and language-related components with brain aging status, which was quantified by using the brain age paradigm. A total of 616 healthy participants aged 18–88 years from the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience databank were recruited. The picture-naming task was used to test the participants’ language-related word retrieval ability through word-finding and word-generation processes. The naming response time (RT) and accuracy were measured under a baseline condition and two priming conditions, namely phonological and semantic priming. To estimate brain age, we established a brain age prediction model based on white matter (WM) features and estimated the modality-specific predicted age difference (PAD). Mass partial correlation analyses were performed to test the associations of WM-PAD with the cognitive performance measures under the baseline and two priming conditions. We observed that the domain-specific language WM-PAD and domain-general WM-PAD were significantly correlated with general word-finding ability. The phonological mechanism, not the semantic mechanism, in word-finding ability was significantly correlated with the domain-specific WM-PAD. In contrast, all behavioral measures of the conditions in the picture priming task were significantly associated with chronological age. The results suggest that chronological aging and WM aging have differential effects on language-related word retrieval functions, and support that cognitive alterations in word-finding functions involve not only the domain-specific processing within the frontotemporal language network but also the domain-general processing of executive functions in the fronto-parieto-occipital (or multi-demand) network. The findings further indicate that the phonological aspect of word retrieval ability declines as cerebral WM ages, whereas the semantic aspect is relatively resilient or unrelated to WM aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pin-Yu Chen
- Molecular Imaging Centre, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Chang-Le Chen
- Molecular Imaging Centre, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Hui-Ming Tseng
- Institute of Medical Device and Imaging, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
| | | | - Chi-Wen Christina Huang
- Department of Radiology, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.,Department of Radiology, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Wing P Chan
- Department of Radiology, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.,Department of Radiology, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Wen-Yih I Tseng
- Molecular Imaging Centre, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.,Institute of Medical Device and Imaging, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
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10
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Dhir S, Teo WP, Chamberlain SR, Tyler K, Yücel M, Segrave RA. The Effects of Combined Physical and Cognitive Training on Inhibitory Control: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 128:735-748. [PMID: 34256070 PMCID: PMC7611490 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.07.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2021] [Revised: 06/25/2021] [Accepted: 07/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
While strong inhibitory control is critical for health and wellbeing, there are no broadly applicable effective behavioural interventions that enhance it. This meta-analysis examined the neurocognitive rationale for combined physical and cognitive training and synthesised the rapidly growing body of evidence examining combined paradigms to enhance inhibitory control. Across the research to date, there was a small positive effect (n studies = 16, n participants = 832) of combined training on improving inhibitory control. Sub-group analyses showed small-moderate positive effects when the physical component of the combined training was moderately intense, as opposed to low or vigorous intensities; moderate positive effects were found in older adults, as compared to adolescents and adults; and healthy individuals and those with vascular cognitive impairment, as compared to ADHD, ASD, mild cognitive impairment and cancer survivors. This is the first meta-analysis to provide evidence that combined physical, specifically when moderately intense, and cognitive training has the capacity to improve inhibitory control, particularly when delivered to healthy individuals and those experiencing age-related decline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sakshi Dhir
- BrainPark, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences and Monash Biomedical Imaging Facility, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
| | - Wei-Peng Teo
- Physical Education and Sports Science Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Samuel R Chamberlain
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, UK; Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, UK
| | - Kaelasha Tyler
- BrainPark, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences and Monash Biomedical Imaging Facility, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Murat Yücel
- BrainPark, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences and Monash Biomedical Imaging Facility, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Rebecca A Segrave
- BrainPark, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences and Monash Biomedical Imaging Facility, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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11
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Abstract
An essential aim in the research on semantic cognition is to understand the interplay between the structure of semantic representation and controlled processes that operate on it to generate flexible behaviours. To evaluate the link between semantic network connectivity and semantic control functions (semantic inhibition and switching), we employed a network theory approach and revealed that controlled semantic processing was reliably associated with connectivity of conceptual representation. In particular, our results show that efficient information flow afforded by high connectivity of semantic network is coupled with superior switching but poor inhibition ability. These findings suggest that the network architectures that facilitate efficient semantic activation spreading aid flexible transitions between semantic clusters but impede inhibition employed to suppress inappropriate or interfering semantic representations. Overall, our study provides a novel insight into the mechanisms underlying controlled semantic processing that is recruited to disentangle from habitual structure of semantic representation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Marko
- Department of Behavioural Neuroscience, Institute of Normal and Pathological Physiology, Centre of Experimental Medicine, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.,Department of Applied Informatics, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Igor Riečanský
- Department of Behavioural Neuroscience, Institute of Normal and Pathological Physiology, Centre of Experimental Medicine, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.,Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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12
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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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13
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Glisky EL, Alexander GE, Hou M, Kawa K, Woolverton CB, Zigman EK, Nguyen LA, Haws K, Figueredo AJ, Ryan L. Differences between young and older adults in unity and diversity of executive functions. AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2020; 28:829-854. [PMID: 33028159 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2020.1830936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Miyake and colleagues (2000) identified three independent but correlated components of executive function in young adults - set shifting, inhibition, and updating. The present study compared the factor structure in young adults to two groups of older adults (ages 60-73 and 74-98). A three-factor model of shifting, inhibition and updating was confirmed in young adults, but the factors were weakly or uncorrelated. In both older groups, a two-factor solution was indicated, updating/inhibition and shifting, which were moderately correlated in young-older adults, and strongly correlated in the old-older group. A nested factors model in the oldest group revealed a common factor, which loaded on all but one of the tests, and a shifting-specific factor. We concluded that in young adulthood, shifting, updating and inhibition may operate relatively independently. As people age and processing becomes less efficient, they may rely increasingly on general executive control processes, reallocating their limited resources to optimize performance.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Gene E Alexander
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Mingzhu Hou
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Kevin Kawa
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | | | - Erika K Zigman
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Lauren A Nguyen
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Kari Haws
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | | | - Lee Ryan
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
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14
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El Haj M, Allain P, Antoine P, Gallouj K, Moustafa AA, Quaglino V, Roche J. The subjective experience of mind wandering in Alzheimer's disease. Cogn Neuropsychiatry 2020; 25:201-214. [PMID: 32013715 DOI: 10.1080/13546805.2020.1722085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Introduction: Little is known about mind wandering in Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we evaluated the subjective experience of mind wandering in AD.Methods: We invited AD patients and control participants to rate the occurrence, intentionality, emotionality, visual imagery, specificity, self-relatedness and temporal orientation of mind wandering.Results: Analysis showed that AD patients rated their mind wandering as more frequent, negative, and more oriented toward the past, but less vivid and specific than that of control participants. No significant differences were observed between AD patients and control participants regarding the intentionality or self-relatedness of mind wandering.Conclusions: These findings demonstrate the negative content in AD. Regarding the reduction of visual imagery and specificity during mind wandering, this reduction may mirror a diminished subjective experience of mind wandering in AD. Regarding temporality, our results may reflect a tendency of AD patients to reminisce over past experiences. Finally, mind wandering in AD seems to trigger significant self-related content.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamad El Haj
- Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire (LPPL EA 4638), Nantes Université, Univ Angers, Nantes, France.,Unité de Gériatrie, Centre Hospitalier de Tourcoing, Tourcoing, France.,Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
| | - Philippe Allain
- Laboratoire de Psychologie des Pays de la Loire, LPPL EA 4638, UNIV Angers, Nantes Université, Maison de la recherche Germaine Tillion, Angers, France
| | - Pascal Antoine
- UMR 9193 - SCALab - Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives, Univ. Lille, CNRS, CHU Lille, Lille, France
| | - Karim Gallouj
- Unité de Gériatrie, Centre Hospitalier de Tourcoing, Tourcoing, France
| | - Ahmed A Moustafa
- School of Social Sciences and Psychology & Marcs Institute for Brain and Behaviour, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia
| | | | - Jean Roche
- Unité de Psychogériatrie, Pôle de Gérontologie, CHU de Lille, Lille, France
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Higby E, Cahana-Amitay D, Vogel-Eyny A, Spiro A, Albert ML, Obler LK. The Role of Executive Functions in Object- and Action-Naming among Older Adults. Exp Aging Res 2019; 45:306-330. [PMID: 31216948 DOI: 10.1080/0361073x.2019.1627492] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Background/Study Context: Lexical retrieval abilities and executive function skills decline with age. The extent to which these processes might be interdependent remains unknown. The aim of the current study was to examine whether individual differences in three executive functions (shifting, fluency, and inhibition) predicted naming performance in older adults. Methods: The sample included 264 adults aged 55-84. Six measures of executive functions were combined to make three executive function composites scores. Lexical retrieval performance was measured by accuracy and response time on two tasks: object naming and action naming. We conducted a series of multiple regressions to test whether executive function performance predicts naming abilities in older adults. Results: We found that different executive functions predicted naming speed and accuracy. Shifting predicted naming accuracy for both object and action naming while fluency predicted response times on both tests as well as object naming accuracy, after controlling for education, gender, age, working memory span, and speed of processing in all regressions. Interestingly, inhibition did not contribute to naming accuracy or response times on either task. Conclusion: The findings support the notion that preservation of some executive functions contributes to successful naming in older adults and that different executive functions are associated with naming speed and accuracy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eve Higby
- a Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences , California State University , East Bay, Hayward , CA , USA.,b Department of Psychology , University of California , Riverside , CA , USA
| | - Dalia Cahana-Amitay
- c Department of Neurology , Boston University School of Medicine , Boston , MA.,d Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System , Boston , MA
| | - Amy Vogel-Eyny
- e Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences , The Graduate Center of the City University of New York , New York , NY
| | - Avron Spiro
- d Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System , Boston , MA.,f Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health , Boston University , Boston , MA.,g Department of Psychiatry , Boston University School of Medicine , Boston , MA
| | - Martin L Albert
- c Department of Neurology , Boston University School of Medicine , Boston , MA.,d Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System , Boston , MA
| | - Loraine K Obler
- c Department of Neurology , Boston University School of Medicine , Boston , MA.,d Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System , Boston , MA.,e Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences , The Graduate Center of the City University of New York , New York , NY
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Gallant SN, Pun C, Yang L. Age differences in the neural correlates underlying control of emotional memory: An event-related potential study. Brain Res 2018; 1697:83-92. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2018.06.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2018] [Revised: 06/07/2018] [Accepted: 06/15/2018] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
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El Haj M, Gallouj K, Dehon H, Roche J, Larøi F. Hallucinations in Alzheimer's disease: failure to suppress irrelevant memories. Cogn Neuropsychiatry 2018; 23:142-153. [PMID: 29480041 DOI: 10.1080/13546805.2018.1443062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Research with patients with schizophrenia suggests that inhibitory dysfunction leads to the emergence of redundant or irrelevant information from long-term memory into awareness, and that this process may be involved in generating hallucinations. We investigated whether inhibitory dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease (AD) leads to hallucinations. METHOD AD participants and healthy matched controls were assessed with a hallucinations scale and a directed forgetting task. On the directed forgetting task, they were asked to retain a list of 10 words (i.e., List 1). Thereafter, half of the participants were asked to forget this list whereas the other half were asked to retain the list in memory. After the List 1 presentation, all participants were asked to retain another list of 10 words and, successively, were asked to remember all of the words from both lists, regardless of the previous forget or remember instruction. RESULTS Relative to healthy matched controls, AD participants showed difficulties in suppressing the words from List 1. AD participants also showed more hallucinatory experiences than healthy matched controls. Interestingly, a significant correlation was observed between the score on the hallucinations measure and difficulties in suppressing List 1 in AD participants. DISCUSSION Hallucinations in AD may, at least in part, be related to difficulties in suppressing memory representations, such that unwanted or repetitive thoughts intrude into consciousness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamad El Haj
- a CNRS, CHU Lille, UMR 9193-SCALab-Sciences Cognitives et Sciences Affectives , University of Lille , Lille , France.,b Unité de Gériatrie, Centre Hospitalier de Tourcoing , Tourcoing , France
| | - Karim Gallouj
- b Unité de Gériatrie, Centre Hospitalier de Tourcoing , Tourcoing , France
| | - Hedwige Dehon
- c Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit , University of Liège , Liège , Belgium
| | - Jean Roche
- d CHU de Lille , Unité de Psychogériatrie, Pôle de Gérontologie , Lille , France
| | - Franck Larøi
- c Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit , University of Liège , Liège , Belgium.,e Department of Biological and Medical Psychology , University of Bergen , Bergen , Norway.,f NORMENT-Norwegian Centre of Excellence for Mental Disorders Research , University of Oslo , Oslo , Norway
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Intraindividual Variability in Inhibition and Prospective Memory in Healthy Older Adults: Insights from Response Regularity and Rapidity. J Intell 2018; 6:jintelligence6010013. [PMID: 31162440 PMCID: PMC6480743 DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence6010013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2017] [Revised: 02/19/2018] [Accepted: 02/27/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Successful prospective memory (PM) performance relies on executive functions, including inhibition. However, PM and inhibition are usually assessed in separate tasks, and analytically the focus is either on group differences or at most on interindividual differences. Conjoint measures of PM and inhibition performance that take into account intraindividual variability (IIV) are thus missing. In the present study, we assessed healthy older adults' level of performance and IIV in both inhibition and PM using a classical Go/NoGo task. We also created a prospective Go/NoGo version that embeds a PM component into the task. Using dynamic structural equation modeling, we assessed the joint effects of mean level (μ), an indicator of amplitude of fluctuations in IIV (or net IIV; intraindividual standard deviation, iSD), and an indicator of time dependency in IIV (the autoregressive parameter ϕ) in reaction times (RTs) on inhibition and PM performance. Results indicate that higher inhibition failure, but not IIV, predicted PM errors, corroborating the current literature on the involvement of prepotent response inhibition in PM processes. In turn, fastest RT latency (μ) and increased net IIV (iSD) were consistently associated with prepotent response inhibition failure, while coherence in RT pattern (ϕ) was beneficial to inhibition performance when the task was novel. Time-dependent IIV (ϕ) appears to reflect an adaptive exploration of strategies to attain optimal performance, whereas increased net IIV (iSD) may indicate inefficient sustained cognitive processes when performance is high. We discuss trade-off processes between competing tasks.
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Gilsoul J, Simon J, Hogge M, Collette F. Do attentional capacities and processing speed mediate the effect of age on executive functioning? AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2018; 26:282-317. [DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2018.1432746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Gilsoul
- GIGA-CRC in Vivo Imaging, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Jessica Simon
- GIGA-CRC in Vivo Imaging, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Michaël Hogge
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Fabienne Collette
- GIGA-CRC in Vivo Imaging, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
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Badcock JC, Dehon H, Larøi F. Hallucinations in Healthy Older Adults: An Overview of the Literature and Perspectives for Future Research. Front Psychol 2017; 8:1134. [PMID: 28736541 PMCID: PMC5500657 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2017] [Accepted: 06/21/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
KEY POINTS➢ Studies suggest a substantial minority of healthy older adults have hallucinatory experiences, in line with existing evidence on hallucinations in other age groups, though it is still unclear if hallucination prevalence increases or declines with age in older cohorts. ➢ Stigma attached to both hallucinations and ageing leads to considerable under-reporting of these experiences in healthy older adults and may negatively bias how professionals, family members, and the public respond. ➢ Why and when hallucinations in healthy older adults remit, persist, or progress to other clinical disorders remains poorly understood. ➢ Current evidence points to a range of factors associated with hallucinations in older adults including decline in sensory or cognitive functioning, poor sleep, and psychosocial stressors (e.g., social isolation, loneliness, and bereavement), highlighting the need for accurate assessment and tailored interventions.
Hallucinations, though common in youth and younger adults, are not the preserve of these age groups. Accumulating evidence shows that hallucinatory experiences are also present at surprisingly high rates in healthy older adults in the general community. Furthermore, stigma and misunderstanding of hallucinations, together with ageism, may lead to under-reporting of these experiences by older adults, and misdiagnosis or mismanagement by health and mental health practitioners. Consequently, improved public and professional knowledge is needed about the nature and significance of hallucinations with advancing age. The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview, and critical analysis, of research on the prevalence, psychosocial, and neurobiological factors associated with hallucinations in people aged 60 years and over. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review of its kind in the literature. The evidence supports a dynamic conceptualization of hallucinations, in which the emergence of hallucinations is viewed as a balance between the sensory, cognitive, or social impairments accompanying advancing age and the degree to which compensatory processes elicited by these impairments are successful. We briefly summarize the implications of the literature for aged care services and interventions, and stress that far more studies are needed in this important field of research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johanna C Badcock
- Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry, Division of Psychiatry, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, The University of Western AustraliaPerth, WA, Australia.,Australia and Perth Voices Clinic, Murdoch University Child and Adult Psychology Service, Murdoch UniversityMurdoch, WA, Australia
| | - Hedwige Dehon
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, University of LiegeLiege, Belgium
| | - Frank Larøi
- Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, University of LiegeLiege, Belgium.,Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of BergenBergen, Norway.,NORMENT - Norwegian Centre of Excellence for Mental Disorders Research, University of OsloOslo, Norway
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Cervera-Crespo T, González-Alvarez J. Age and Semantic Inhibition Measured by the Hayling Task: A Meta-Analysis. Arch Clin Neuropsychol 2017; 32:198-214. [PMID: 28365747 DOI: 10.1093/arclin/acw088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/03/2016] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective Cognitive aging is commonly associated with a decrease in executive functioning (EF). A specific component of EF, semantic inhibition, is addressed in the present study, which presents a meta-analytic review of the literature that has evaluated the performance on the Hayling Sentence Completion test in young and older groups of individuals in order to assess the magnitude of the age effect. Method A systematic search involving Web of Science, PsyINFO, PsychARTICLE, and MedLine databases and Google Scholar was performed. A total of 11 studies were included in this meta-analysis, encompassing a total of 887 participants; 440 young and 447 older adults. The effect sizes for group differences on four measures of the Hayling test, latency responses and error scores on the Automatic and Inhibition sections of the test were calculated using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software package. Results The results revealed large age effects for response latencies in both the Automatic (Hedges' g = 0.81) and Inhibitory conditions (Hedges' g = 0.98), though the latter two effect sizes did not differ from each other. In contrast, analysis of errors revealed a significant difference between the small effect seen in the Automatic condition (Hedges' g = 0.13) relative to the moderate effect seen in the Inhibition condition (Hedges' g = 0.55). Conclusions These results may be important for a better understanding of the inhibitory functioning in elderly individuals, although they should be interpreted with caution because of the limited number of studies in the literature to date.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Julio González-Alvarez
- Department of Basic Psychology, Clinic, and Psychobiology, University Jaume I, Castellón, Castellon de la Plana, Spain
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Berger N, Crossman M, Brandt KR. No evidence for age-related differences in item-method directed forgetting of emotional words. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2016; 71:595-604. [PMID: 27882855 DOI: 10.1080/17470218.2016.1264433] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Research indicates that people can intentionally forget, but it is less clear how ageing and emotion interact with this ability. The present research investigated item-method directed forgetting of negative, neutral, and positive words in young (20-35 years), young-old (60-74 years), and old-old (75-89 years) adults. Although old-old adults showed overall reduced memory compared to young and young-old adults, all three age groups showed intentional forgetting. Moreover, intentional forgetting was not affected by the valence of the word in any of the three age groups. These findings suggest that younger and older adults can intentionally forget information that is neutral or emotional in nature. The present study's results extend previous research by showing that this ability is preserved in very old age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie Berger
- Department of Psychology, University of Roehampton, London, UK
| | - Margot Crossman
- Department of Psychology, University of Roehampton, London, UK
| | - Karen R Brandt
- Department of Psychology, University of Roehampton, London, UK
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Diaz MT, Rizio AA, Zhuang J. The neural language systems that support healthy aging: Integrating function, structure, and behavior. LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS COMPASS 2016; 10:314-334. [PMID: 28210287 PMCID: PMC5304920 DOI: 10.1111/lnc3.12199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Although healthy aging is generally characterized by declines in both brain structure and function, there is variability in the extent to which these changes result in observable cognitive decline. Specific to language, age-related differences in language production are observed more frequently than in language comprehension, although both are associated with increased right prefrontal cortex activation in older adults. The current paper explores these differences in the language system, integrating them with theories of behavioral and neural cognitive aging. Overall, data indicate that frontal reorganization of the dorsal language stream in older adults benefits task performance during comprehension, but not always during production. We interpret these results in the CRUNCH framework (compensation-related utilization of neural circuits hypothesis), which suggests that differences in task and process difficulty may underlie older adults' ability to successfully adapt. That is, older adults may be able to neurally adapt to less difficult tasks (i.e., comprehension), but fail to do so successfully as difficulty increases (i.e., production). We hypothesize greater age-related differences in aspects of language that rely more heavily on the dorsal language stream (e.g., syntax and production) and that recruit general cognitive resources that rely on frontal regions (e.g., executive function, working memory, inhibition). Moreover, there should be a relative sparing of tasks that rely predominantly on ventral stream regions. These results are both consistent with patterns of age-related structural decline and retention and with varying levels of difficulty across comprehension and production. This neurocognitive framework for understanding age-related differences in the language system centers on the interaction between prefrontal cortex activation, structural integrity, and task difficulty.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Avery A. Rizio
- The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Jie Zhuang
- Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
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From junior to senior Pinocchio: A cross-sectional lifespan investigation of deception. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2015; 160:58-68. [PMID: 26182909 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2015.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2015] [Revised: 06/23/2015] [Accepted: 06/29/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
We present the first study to map deception across the entire lifespan. Specifically, we investigated age-related difference in lying proficiency and lying frequency. A large community sample (n = 1005) aged between 6 and 77 were surveyed on their lying frequency, and performed a reaction-time (RT) based deception task to assess their lying proficiency. Consistent with the inverted U-shaped pattern of age-related changes in inhibitory control that we observed in a stop signal task, we found that lying proficiency improved during childhood (in accuracy, not RTs), excelled in young adulthood (in accuracy and RTs), and worsened throughout adulthood (in accuracy and RTs). Likewise, lying frequency increased in childhood, peaked in adolescence, and decreased during adulthood. In sum, we observed important age-related difference in deception that generally fit with the U-shaped pattern of age-related changes observed in inhibitory control. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed from a cognitive view of deception.
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El Haj M, Fasotti L, Allain P. Directed forgetting of source memory in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease. Aging Clin Exp Res 2015; 27:329-36. [PMID: 25365949 DOI: 10.1007/s40520-014-0276-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2014] [Accepted: 10/11/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Using the source directed forgetting method, the present paper investigated whether older adults and Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients were able to inhibit source information. METHODS Younger adults, older adults and AD participants were presented with two sets of six items each: Set1 and Set2. Each item was presented by one of two sources: an experimenter black- or white-gloved hand. After the presentation of the Set1 items, participants were instructed either to forget or to continue remembering the source of the items. Afterward, all participants were presented with the Set2 items, and were asked to remember their source. Finally, subjects were exposed to the Set1 and Set2 items, and were asked to recall, for each item, its original source presentation (i.e., the experimenter black- or white-gloved hand). RESULTS In comparison with younger adults, older adults and AD participants showed no differences in remembering the source of the Set1 and Set2 items. In other words, they failed to inhibit the source information. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Our outcomes are discussed in terms of retrieval inhibition deficits and changes in adaptive nature of memory in normal aging and AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamad El Haj
- Research Unit on Cognitive and Affective Sciences (URECA EA1059 & UMR SCALAB), Department of Psychology, University of North of France, Lille, France,
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"Forget to whom you have told this proverb": directed forgetting of destination memory in Alzheimer's disease. Behav Neurol 2015; 2015:215971. [PMID: 25918456 PMCID: PMC4396001 DOI: 10.1155/2015/215971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2015] [Revised: 03/21/2015] [Accepted: 03/21/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Destination memory is the ability to remember the receiver of transmitted information. By means of a destination memory directed forgetting task, we investigated whether participants with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) were able to suppress irrelevant information in destination memory. Twenty-six AD participants and 30 healthy elderly subjects were asked to tell 10 different proverbs to 10 different celebrities (List 1). Afterwards, half of the participants were instructed to forget the destinations (i.e., the celebrities) whereas the other half were asked to keep them in mind. After telling 10 other proverbs to 10 other celebrities (List 2), participants were asked to read numbers aloud. Subsequently, all the participants were asked to remember the destinations of List 1 and List 2, regardless of the forget or remember instructions. The results show similar destination memory in AD participants who were asked to forget the destinations of List 1 and those who were asked to retain them. These findings are attributed to inhibitory deficits, by which AD participants have difficulties to suppress irrelevant information in destination memory.
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Stenbäck V, Hällgren M, Lyxell B, Larsby B. The Swedish Hayling task, and its relation to working memory, verbal ability, and speech-recognition-in-noise. Scand J Psychol 2015; 56:264-72. [PMID: 25819210 DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2014] [Accepted: 01/13/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive functions and speech-recognition-in-noise were evaluated with a cognitive test battery, assessing response inhibition using the Hayling task, working memory capacity (WMC) and verbal information processing, and an auditory test of speech recognition. The cognitive tests were performed in silence whereas the speech recognition task was presented in noise. Thirty young normally-hearing individuals participated in the study. The aim of the study was to investigate one executive function, response inhibition, and whether it is related to individual working memory capacity (WMC), and how speech-recognition-in-noise relates to WMC and inhibitory control. The results showed a significant difference between initiation and response inhibition, suggesting that the Hayling task taps cognitive activity responsible for executive control. Our findings also suggest that high verbal ability was associated with better performance in the Hayling task. We also present findings suggesting that individuals who perform well on tasks involving response inhibition, and WMC, also perform well on a speech-in-noise task. Our findings indicate that capacity to resist semantic interference can be used to predict performance on speech-in-noise tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria Stenbäck
- Technical Audiology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Sweden; Linnaeus Centre HEAD, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
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Howard SJ, Johnson J, Pascual-Leone J. Clarifying inhibitory control: Diversity and development of attentional inhibition. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2014.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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The Role of Memory Traces Quality in Directed Forgetting: A Comparison of Young and Older Participants. Psychol Belg 2014; 54:310-327. [PMID: 30479406 PMCID: PMC5858528 DOI: 10.5334/pb.au] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
A reduced directed-forgetting (DF) effect in normal aging has frequently been
observed with the item method. These results were interpreted as age-related
difficulties in inhibiting the processing of irrelevant information. However,
since the performance of older adults is usually lower on items to remember, the
age effect on DF abilities could also be interpreted as reflecting memory
problems. Consequently, the present study aimed at investigating the influence
of memory traces quality on the magnitude of the DF effects in normal aging. We
predicted that increasing the quality of memory traces (by increasing
presentation times at encoding) would be associated with attenuated DF effects
in older participants due to the increased difficulty of inhibiting highly
activated memory traces. A classical item-method DF paradigm was administered to
48 young and 48 older participants under short and long encoding conditions.
Memory performance for information to memorize and to suppress was assessed with
recall and recognition procedures, as well as with a Remember/Know/Guess (RKG)
paradigm. The results indicated that, when memory traces are equated between
groups, DF effects observed with the recall, recognition and RKG procedures are
of similar amplitude in both groups (all ps>0.05). This suggests that the
decreased DF effect previously observed in older adults might not actually
depend on their inhibitory abilities but may rather reflect quantitative and
qualitative differences in episodic memory functioning.
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Burkard C, Rochat L, Emmenegger J, Juillerat Van der Linden AC, Gold G, Van der Linden M. Implementation Intentions Improve Prospective Memory and Inhibition Performances in Older Adults: The Role of Visualization. APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2014. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.3046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Christina Burkard
- Cognitive Psychopathology and Neuropsychology Unit; University of Geneva; 1204 Genève Switzerland
| | - Lucien Rochat
- Cognitive Psychopathology and Neuropsychology Unit; University of Geneva; 1204 Genève Switzerland
- Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences; University of Geneva; 1205 Genève Switzerland
| | - Joëlle Emmenegger
- Memory Clinic; University Hospital of Geneva; 1227 Geneva Switzerland
| | - Anne-Claude Juillerat Van der Linden
- Cognitive Psychopathology and Neuropsychology Unit; University of Geneva; 1204 Genève Switzerland
- Memory Clinic; University Hospital of Geneva; 1227 Geneva Switzerland
| | - Gabriel Gold
- Memory Clinic; University Hospital of Geneva; 1227 Geneva Switzerland
| | - Martial Van der Linden
- Cognitive Psychopathology and Neuropsychology Unit; University of Geneva; 1204 Genève Switzerland
- Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences; University of Geneva; 1205 Genève Switzerland
- Cognitive Psychology Unit; University of Liège; 4000 Liège Belgium
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McArthur AD, Sears CR, Scialfa CT, Sulsky LM. Aging and the inhibition of competing hypotheses during visual word identification: evidence from the progressive demasking task. AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2014; 22:220-43. [DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2014.911240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Sylvain-Roy S, Lungu O, Belleville S. Normal Aging of the Attentional Control Functions That Underlie Working Memory. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2014; 70:698-708. [DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbt166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2013] [Accepted: 12/16/2013] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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Rizio AA, Dennis NA. The cognitive control of memory: age differences in the neural correlates of successful remembering and intentional forgetting. PLoS One 2014; 9:e87010. [PMID: 24475211 PMCID: PMC3901730 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0087010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2013] [Accepted: 12/16/2013] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Successful memory encoding depends on the ability to intentionally encode relevant information (via differential encoding) and intentionally forget that which is irrelevant (via inhibition). Both cognitive processes have been shown to decline in aging and are theorized to underlie age-related deficits in the cognitive control of memory. The current study uses the Directed Forgetting paradigm in conjunction with fMRI to investigate age-related differences in both cognitive processes, with the specific aim of elucidating neural evidence supporting these theorized deficits. Results indicate relatively preserved differential encoding, with age differences consistent with previous models of age-related compensation (i.e., increased frontal and bilateral recruitment). Older adults did display noticeable differences in the recruitment of brain regions related to intentional forgetting, specifically exhibiting reduced activity in the right superior prefrontal cortex, a region shown to be critical to inhibitory processing. However, older adults exhibited increased reliance on processing in right inferior parietal lobe associated with successful forgetting. Activity in this region was negatively correlated with activity in the medial temporal lobe, suggesting a shift in the locus of inhibition compared to the frontally mediated inhibition observed in younger adults. Finally, while previous studies found intentional and incidental forgetting to be dissociable in younger adults, this differentiation appears to be reduced in older adults. The current results are the first to provide neural evidence for an age-related reduction in processes that support intentional forgetting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Avery A. Rizio
- The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Psychology, State College, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Nancy A. Dennis
- The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Psychology, State College, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America
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Forgetting in context: the effects of age, emotion, and social factors on retrieval-induced forgetting. Mem Cognit 2013; 40:874-88. [PMID: 22454328 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-012-0202-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) refers to the finding that selectively retrieving some information impairs subsequent memory for related but nonretrieved information. This occurs both for the individual doing the remembering (i.e., within-individual retrieval-induced forgetting: WI-RIF), as well as for individuals merely listening to those recollections (i.e., socially shared retrieval-induced forgetting: SS-RIF). In the present study, we examined how the contextual factors of age and emotion independently and interactively affect both WI-RIF and SS-RIF. The results indicated that both WI-RIF and SS-RIF occurred at equivalent levels, both for younger and older adults and for neutral and emotional information. However, we identified a boundary condition to this effect: People only exhibited SS-RIF when the speaker that they were listening to was of the same sex as themselves. Given that participants reported feeling closer to same-sex speakers, this suggests that people co-retrieve more, and therefore exhibit increased SS-RIF, with close others. In everyday life, these RIF effects should influence what information is remembered versus forgotten in individual and collective memories.
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Ren J, Wu YD, Chan JSY, Yan JH. Cognitive aging affects motor performance and learning. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2012; 13:19-27. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1447-0594.2012.00914.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Schlaghecken F, Birak KS, Maylor EA. Age-related deficits in efficiency of low-level lateral inhibition. Front Hum Neurosci 2012; 6:102. [PMID: 22557955 PMCID: PMC3338071 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2012] [Accepted: 04/07/2012] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: In a masked prime task using a 0 ms prime-target inter-stimulus-interval, responses on trials where prime and target match (compatible trials) are usually faster and more accurate than responses where prime and target mismatch (incompatible trials). This positive compatibility effect (PCE) comprises both behavioral benefits on compatible relative to neutral trials, and behavioral costs on incompatible relative to neutral trials. Comparing performance in 2- vs. 4-alternative-response versions of the task indicates that benefits are due to direct priming (i.e., pre-activation) of a motor response, whereas costs reflect an inhibition of the alternative response tendency. The present study employs this paradigm to test the hypothesis that normal aging is associated with a selective deficit in inhibitory function, affecting both low-level motor and higher-level executive control. Experiment and Results: Testing 20 young and 20 older healthy adults, we found that (1) overall, prime-induced benefits were of similar magnitude across age groups, but inhibition-based costs were smaller in older compared to young adults; (2) increasing the number of response alternatives caused the same pattern of unaltered benefits and reduced costs in both age groups; and (3) costs, but not benefits, in the 2-alternative condition were significantly predicted by scores on the digit symbol substitution task (DSST), independently of age and other background variables. Interpretation: Results demonstrate the possibility of isolating an inhibitory component in low-level perceptuo-motor control. Importantly, this component shows an age-related decline in the absence of a corresponding decline of visuo-motor excitability, and appears to be linked to performance on a higher-level processing speed task. We hypothesize that aging might affect the brain's ability to establish precise short-term lateral inhibitory links, and that even in young adults, the efficiency of such links is a significant contributing factor in higher-level cognitive performance.
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Mayas J, Fuentes L, Ballesteros S. Stroop interference and negative priming (NP) suppression in normal aging. Arch Gerontol Geriatr 2012; 54:333-8. [DOI: 10.1016/j.archger.2010.12.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2010] [Revised: 12/12/2010] [Accepted: 12/13/2010] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Stawarczyk D, Grandjean J, Salmon E, Collette F. Perceptual and motor inhibitory abilities in normal aging and Alzheimer disease (AD): a preliminary study. Arch Gerontol Geriatr 2011; 54:e152-61. [PMID: 22209393 DOI: 10.1016/j.archger.2011.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2011] [Revised: 12/06/2011] [Accepted: 12/06/2011] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
Deficits in inhibitory abilities are frequently observed in normal aging and AD. However, few studies have explored the generality of these deficits in a single group of participants. A battery of tasks assessing perceptual and motor inhibitory functioning was administered to young and older healthy participants (Study 1), as well as to mild Alzheimer patients (Study 2). Results did not agree with a selective impairment of motor or perceptual inhibition in either AD or normal aging but rather suggest that a decrease in cognitive resources available in working memory could explain inhibitory performance both in normal aging and AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Stawarczyk
- Department of Psychology: Cognition and Behavior, University of Liège, Belgium
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Murray BD, Muscatell KA, Kensinger EA. Effects of emotion and age on performance during a think/no-think memory task. Psychol Aging 2011; 26:940-55. [PMID: 21517183 PMCID: PMC3192292 DOI: 10.1037/a0023214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Recent studies have demonstrated that young adults can voluntarily suppress information from memory when directed to. After learning novel word pairings to criterion, participants are shown individual words and instructed either to "think" about the associated word, or to put it out of mind entirely ("no-think"). When given a surprise cued recall test, participants typically show impaired recall for no-think words relative to think or "control" (un-manipulated) words. The present study investigated whether this controlled suppression effect persists in an aged population, and examined how the emotionality of the to-be-suppressed word affects suppression ability. Data from four experiments using the think/no-think task demonstrate that older and younger adults can suppress information when directed to (Experiment 1), and the age groups do not differ significantly in this ability. Experiments 2 through 4 demonstrate that both age groups can suppress words that are emotional (positive or negative valence) or neutral. The suppression effect also persists even if participants are tested using independent probe words that are semantically related to the target words but were not the studied cue words (Experiments 3 and 4). These data suggest that the cognitive functioning necessary to suppress information from memory is present in older adulthood, and that both emotional and neutral information can be successfully suppressed from memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brendan D Murray
- Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA.
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Andrés P, Howard CE. Part set cuing in older adults: further evidence of intact forgetting in aging. AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2011; 18:385-95. [PMID: 21728887 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2010.542892] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
The aim of this study was to look at the effect of aging on part set cuing while equating for baseline performance in episodic memory. Younger and older participants listened to three different word lists, each containing 24 words relating to a particular category. During recall, 0, 33, or 66% of the items presented in the learning phase were re-presented as cues. The results showed that recall of the never cued items was equally impaired by the presence of cues in younger and older adults, thus showing equivalent part set cuing effects in both groups. These results parallel previous findings showing equivalent inhibitory effects in younger and older adults with tasks that do not require executive control and provide additional support to previous studies challenging the view that frontal/executive processes play a major role in part set cuing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pilar Andrés
- School of Psychology, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
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El Haj M, Postal V, Le Gall D, Allain P. Directed forgetting of autobiographical memory in mild Alzheimer's disease. Memory 2011; 19:993-1003. [DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2011.626428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/15/2022]
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Anguera JA, Gazzaley A. Dissociation of motor and sensory inhibition processes in normal aging. Clin Neurophysiol 2011; 123:730-40. [PMID: 21963321 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2011.08.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2010] [Revised: 07/18/2011] [Accepted: 08/22/2011] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Age-related cognitive impairments have been attributed to deficits in inhibitory processes that mediate both motor restraint and sensory filtering. However, behavioral studies have failed to show an association between tasks that measure these distinct types of inhibition. In the present study, we hypothesized neural markers reflecting each type of inhibition may reveal a relationship across inhibitory domains in older adults. METHODS Electroencephalography (EEG) and behavioral measures were used to explore whether there was an across-participant correlation between sensory suppression and motor inhibition. Sixteen healthy older adult participants (65-80 years) engaged in two separate experimental paradigms: a selective attention, delayed-recognition task and a stop-signal task. RESULTS Findings revealed no significant relationship existed between neural markers of sensory suppression (P1 amplitude; N170 latency) and markers of motor inhibition (N2 and P3 amplitude and latency) in older adults. CONCLUSIONS These distinct inhibitory domains are differentially impacted in normal aging, as evidenced by previous behavioral work and the current neural findings. Thus a generalized inhibitory deficit may not be a common impairment in cognitive aging. SIGNIFICANCE Given that some theories of cognitive aging suggest age-related failure of inhibitory mechanisms may span different modalities, the present findings contribute to an alternative view where age-related declines within each inhibitory modality are unrelated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joaquin A Anguera
- Departments of Neurology, Physiology and Psychiatry, WM Keck Center for Integrative Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158-2330, USA.
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Grandjean J, Collette F. Influence of response prepotency strength, general working memory resources, and specific working memory load on the ability to inhibit predominant responses: a comparison of young and elderly participants. Brain Cogn 2011; 77:237-47. [PMID: 21885178 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2011.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2011] [Accepted: 08/01/2011] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
One conception of inhibitory functioning suggests that the ability to successfully inhibit a predominant response depends mainly on the strength of that response, the general functioning of working memory processes, and the working memory demand of the task (Roberts, Hager, & Heron, 1994). The proposal that inhibition and functional working memory capacity interact was assessed in the present study using two motor inhibition tasks (Go/No-Go and response incompatibility) in young and older participants. The strength of prepotency was assessed with a short or long training phase for the response to be inhibited. The influence of working memory resources was evaluated by administering the tasks in full vs. divided attention conditions. The effect of working memory load was manipulated by increasing the number of target and distracter items in each task. Results showed no effect of prepotency strength, whereas dividing attentional resources and increasing working memory load were associated with greater inhibitory effects in both groups and for both tasks. This deleterious effect was higher for older participants, except in the working memory load condition of the Go/No-Go task. These results suggest an interactive link between working memory and response inhibition by showing that taxing working memory resources increases the difficulty of inhibiting prepotent responses in younger and older subjects. The additional detrimental effect of these factors on healthy elderly subjects was related to their decreased cognitive resources and to their shorter span size.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julien Grandjean
- Department of Psychology: Cognition and Behavior, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
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Guerreiro MJS, Adam JJ, Van Gerven PWM. Automatic selective attention as a function of sensory modality in aging. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2011; 67:194-202. [PMID: 21798856 DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbr090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES It was recently hypothesized that age-related differences in selective attention depend on sensory modality (Guerreiro, M. J. S., Murphy, D. R., & Van Gerven, P. W. M. (2010). The role of sensory modality in age-related distraction: A critical review and a renewed view. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 975-1022. doi:10.1037/a0020731). So far, this hypothesis has not been tested in automatic selective attention. The current study addressed this issue by investigating age-related differences in automatic spatial cueing effects (i.e., facilitation and inhibition of return [IOR]) across sensory modalities. METHODS Thirty younger (mean age = 22.4 years) and 25 older adults (mean age = 68.8 years) performed 4 left-right target localization tasks, involving all combinations of visual and auditory cues and targets. We used stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) of 100, 500, 1,000, and 1,500 ms between cue and target. RESULTS The results showed facilitation (shorter reaction times with valid relative to invalid cues at shorter SOAs) in the unimodal auditory and in both cross-modal tasks but not in the unimodal visual task. In contrast, there was IOR (longer reaction times with valid relative to invalid cues at longer SOAs) in both unimodal tasks but not in either of the cross-modal tasks. Most important, these spatial cueing effects were independent of age. DISCUSSION The results suggest that the modality hypothesis of age-related differences in selective attention does not extend into the realm of automatic selective attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria J S Guerreiro
- Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
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Maylor EA, Birak KS, Schlaghecken F. Inhibitory motor control in old age: evidence for de-automatization? Front Psychol 2011; 2:132. [PMID: 21734899 PMCID: PMC3122077 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2011] [Accepted: 06/06/2011] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
To examine age-related effects on high-level consciously controlled and low-level automatically controlled inhibitory processes, the Simon task was combined with the masked prime task in a hybrid procedure. Young and older adults responded to the identity of targets (left/right key-press to left-/right-pointing arrows) that appeared on the left/right of the screen and were preceded by left-/right-pointing backward-masked arrow primes at fixation. Responses were faster and more accurate when the target was congruent with its location than incongruent (Simon effect), and when the target was incompatible with the prime than compatible (negative compatibility effect; NCE). The Simon effect was disproportionately larger, and the NCE disproportionately delayed, in older adults compared to young adults, indicating both high- and low-level inhibitory control deficits with aging. Moreover, the two effects were additive in young adults, but interactive in older adults, providing support for the dedifferentiation hypothesis of aging. Specifically, older adults’ prime-related inhibitory control appeared improved on incongruent relative to congruent trials, suggesting that impaired automatic control was substituted by high-level, non-automatic processes.
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Abstract
In this meta-analysis, we examined the effects of aging on directed forgetting. A cue to forget is more effective in younger (d = 1.17) than in older (d = 0.81) adults. Directed-forgetting effects were larger (a) with the item method rather than with the list method, (b) with longer presentation times, (c) with longer postcue rehearsal times, (d) with single words rather than with verbal action phrases as stimuli, (e) with shorter lists, and (f) when recall rather than recognition was tested. Age effects were reliably larger when the item method was used, suggesting that these effects are mainly due to encoding differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cora Titz
- Center for Research on Education and Development, German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF), Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
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Philippe G, Courvoisier DS, Billieux J, Rochat L, Schmidt RE, Linden MVD. Can the distinction between intentional and unintentional interference control help differentiate varieties of impulsivity? JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY 2010. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2009.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Dissociation of perceptual and motor inhibitory processes in young and elderly participants using the Simon task. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 2008; 14:1014-21. [PMID: 18954481 DOI: 10.1017/s135561770808123x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Deficits in inhibitory abilities are frequently observed in normal aging. However, few studies have explored the generality of these deficits in a single group of participants. Here, we used an adaptation of the Simon task to differentially assess perceptual and motor inhibition using the same stimuli and task design and to determine whether these processes use separate or shared cognitive resources. We were interested in determining whether (1) normal aging is associated with the use of separate (as previously evidenced in young participants) or similar cognitive resources to perform perceptual and motor inhibition tasks; (2) older participants present a specific impairment in one of these two processes. Analyses of reaction times indicated that motor and perceptual inhibitory processes share some cognitive resources and both are impaired in normal aging. These results can be interpreted by considering that a dedifferentiation process is responsible for the inhibitory deficits presented by older participants.
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