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Thomas P, Hazif-Thomas C. [Cognitive aging apart from dementia]. SOINS. GÉRONTOLOGIE 2021; 26:10-17. [PMID: 34304804 DOI: 10.1016/j.sger.2021.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive aging apart dementia results from different genetic programming, different according to individuals. The aging of the various cognitive and very heterogeneous cognitive functions largely depends on the life course of each person. Social factors, in particular the environment in which a person lives, may or may not accelerate the processes of cognitive aging. The slower processing speeds of information from the environment, practical or strategic new acquisitions, and the difficult management of multiple tasks, reflect an age-related hypofrontality. Physical and mental health, social and relational well-being participate in good cognitive aging. Exploration of the different facets of cognitive aging shows its complexity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philippe Thomas
- Centre de recherches sémiotiques, EA 3648, université de Limoges, 39 rue Camille-Guérin, 87000 Limoges, France.
| | - Cyril Hazif-Thomas
- Service de psychiatrie du sujet âgé, Soins primaires, santé publique, registre des cancers de Bretagne occidentale, EA 7479, centre hospitalier régional universitaire de Brest, route de Ploudalmezeau, 29820 Bohars, France
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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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Melikyan ZA, Corrada MM, Dick MB, Whittle C, Paganini-Hill A, Kawas CH. Neuropsychological Test Norms in Cognitively Intact Oldest-Old. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 2019; 25:530-545. [PMID: 31122309 PMCID: PMC6538395 DOI: 10.1017/s1355617719000122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Individuals aged 90 or older (oldest-old), the fastest growing segment of the population, are at increased risk of developing cognitive impairment compared with younger old. Neuropsychological evaluation of the oldest-old is important yet challenging in part because of the scarcity of test norms for this group. We provide neuropsychological test norms for cognitively intact oldest-old. METHODS Test norms were derived from 403 cognitively intact participants of The 90+ Study, an ongoing study of aging and dementia in the oldest-old. Cognitive status of intact oldest-old was determined at baseline using cross-sectional approach. Individuals with cognitive impairment no dementia or dementia (according to DSM-IV criteria) were excluded. Participants ranged in age from 90 to 102 years (mean=94). The neuropsychological battery included 11 tests (Mini-Mental Status Examination, Modified Mini-Mental State Examination, Boston Naming Test - Short Form, Letter Fluency Test, Animal Fluency Test, California Verbal Learning Test-II Short Form, Trail Making Tests A/B/C, Digit Span Forward and Backwards Test, Clock Drawing Test, CERAD Construction Subtests), and the Geriatric Depression Scale. RESULTS Data show significantly lower scores with increasing age on most tests. Education level, sex, and symptoms of depression were associated with performance on several tests after accounting for age. CONCLUSIONS Provided test norms will help to distinguish cognitively intact oldest-old from those with cognitive impairment. (JINS, 2019, 25, 530-545).
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Affiliation(s)
- Zarui A Melikyan
- 1Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders,University of California,Irvine,California
| | - Maria M Corrada
- 1Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders,University of California,Irvine,California
| | - Malcolm B Dick
- 1Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders,University of California,Irvine,California
| | - Christina Whittle
- 1Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders,University of California,Irvine,California
| | | | - Claudia H Kawas
- 1Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders,University of California,Irvine,California
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Powell PS, Strunk J, James T, Polyn SM, Duarte A. Decoding selective attention to context memory: An aging study. Neuroimage 2018; 181:95-107. [PMID: 29991445 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.06.085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2018] [Revised: 06/18/2018] [Accepted: 06/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Emerging evidence has suggested that the tendency for older adults to bind too much contextual information during encoding (i.e., hyper-binding) may contribute to poorer memory for relevant contextual information during retrieval. While these findings are consistent with theories of age-related declines in selective attention and inhibitory control, the degree to which older adults are able to selectively attend to relevant contextual information during encoding is unknown. To better understand the neural dynamics associated with selective attention during encoding, the current study applied multivariate pattern analyses (MVPA) to oscillatory EEG in order to track moment-to-moment shifts of attention between relevant and irrelevant contextual information during encoding. Young and older adults studied pictures of objects in the presence of two contextual features: a color and a scene, and their attention was directed to the object's relationship with one of those contexts (i.e., target context). Results showed that patterns of oscillatory power successfully predicted whether selective attention was directed to a scene or color, across age groups. Individual differences in overall classification performance were associated with individual differences in target context memory accuracy during retrieval. However, changes in classification performance within a trial, suggestive of fluctuations in selective attention, predicted individual differences in hyper-binding. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to use MPVA techniques to decode attention during episodic encoding and the impact of attentional shifts toward distracting information on age-related context memory impairments and hyper-binding. These results are consistent with the as-of-yet unsubstantiated theory that age-related declines in context memory may be attributable to poorer selective attention and/or greater inhibitory deficits in older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick S Powell
- Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Psychology, 654 Cherry Street NW, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0170, United States.
| | - Jonathan Strunk
- Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Psychology, 654 Cherry Street NW, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0170, United States
| | - Taylor James
- Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Psychology, 654 Cherry Street NW, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0170, United States
| | - Sean M Polyn
- Vanderbilt University, Department of Psychology, PMB 407817, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN, 37240-7817, United States
| | - Audrey Duarte
- Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Psychology, 654 Cherry Street NW, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0170, United States
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Yin S, Peng H. The Role of Inhibition in Age-related Off-Topic Verbosity: Not Access but Deletion and Restraint Functions. Front Psychol 2016; 7:544. [PMID: 27199793 PMCID: PMC4844921 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2015] [Accepted: 04/01/2016] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The speech of older adults is commonly described as verbose and off-topic, which is thought to influence their social communication. This study investigated the role of inhibition in age-related off-topic verbosity (OTV). Inhibition consists of three functions: access, deletion, and restraint. The access function is responsible for preventing irrelevant information from accessing the attention center (pre-mechanism of inhibition); The deletion function is responsible for deleting previously relevant but currently irrelevant information from working memory, and the restraint function is responsible for restraining strong but inappropriate responses (post-mechanisms of inhibition). A referential communication task was used to determine whether OTV was influenced by the pre-mechanism of inhibition. A self-involved event interview task was used to investigate the effect of the post-mechanisms of inhibition on OTV. Results showed that the OTV of the elderly participants was associated with an age-related decline in the post-mechanisms of inhibition, while the OTV exhibited by young adults was most likely due to deficits in the pre-mechanism function of inhibition. This research contributed to fill gaps in the existing knowledge about the potential relationship between specific functions of inhibition and age-related OTV.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shufei Yin
- Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Hubei UniversityWuhan, China
| | - Huamao Peng
- Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China
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Abstract
The idea that our cognitive abilities change with age has support from empirical research as well as from anecdotal reports. Cognition has many component processes, some of which are impaired by normal aging like attention and memory as a result of changes in perceptual systems or speed of processing. Other cognitive domains improve in functioning as aging continues such as wisdom and some kinds of decision making. Many years of research in the psychology of cognitive aging has described patterns of age-related changes in cognitive processes with older adults performing worse than younger adults on tests of attention, working memory and episodic memory and better on tests of general knowledge. More recent work in task-related functional neuroimaging has further elucidated the effects of aging on brain circuitry related to these cognitive processes. Generally, studies show that older adults activate regions of the frontal cortex more than younger adults while younger adults activate more posterior cortical areas. This paper describes normal patterns of cognitive change in healthy aging, describes how some of these processes can be explored with functional neuroimaging, and briefly describes the work attempting to describe differences between normal and pathological cognitive aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie A Dumas
- University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry, 1 South Prospect St, Burlington, VT 05401, (802)847-2523
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Tams S, Thatcher J, Grover V, Pak R. Selective attention as a protagonist in contemporary workplace stress: implications for the interruption age. ANXIETY STRESS AND COPING 2015; 28:663-86. [DOI: 10.1080/10615806.2015.1011141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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Cansino S, Guzzon D, Casco C. Effects of interference control on visuospatial working memory. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2013. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2012.739155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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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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Effects of aging on interference control in selective attention and working memory. Mem Cognit 2011; 39:1409-22. [DOI: 10.3758/s13421-011-0109-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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