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Reiber F, Ulrich R. Exploring Effects of Age on Conflict Processing in the Light of Practice in a Large-Scale Dataset. Exp Aging Res 2024; 50:422-442. [PMID: 37258228 DOI: 10.1080/0361073x.2023.2214051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2022] [Accepted: 05/11/2023] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION The possible decline of cognitive functions with age has been in the focus of cognitive research in the last decades. The present study investigated effects of aging on conflict processing in a big dataset of a Stroop-inspired online training task. METHODS We focused on the temporal dynamics of conflict processing in the light of task practice by means of inspecting delta plots and Lorenz-interference curves to gain insights on a process level. RESULTS The results indicate a relatively constant increase of cognitive conflict over the course of adulthood and a decrease with practice. Furthermore, the latency of the automatic processing of conflicting information relative to the controlled processing of task-relevant information decreases relatively constantly with age. This effect is moderated by practice, that is, the relative latency of the automatic processing decreases less with age at high practice levels. CONCLUSION As such, practice seems to be able to partially counteract age-related differences in conflict processing, on a process level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabiola Reiber
- School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Rolf Ulrich
- Department of Psychology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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2
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Linhares M, Oliveira GTA, Cabral DAR, Rêgo MLM, Araújo ADO, Silva RDM, Silva LRFD, Lima MNMD, Neto LDO, Cureau FV, Elsangedy HM. Sit less and move more! A cross-sectional study of the associations between physical activity and sedentary behaviors with inhibitory control in Brazilian adults. PSYCHOLOGY OF SPORT AND EXERCISE 2024; 73:102643. [PMID: 38593966 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2024.102643] [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: 09/20/2023] [Revised: 03/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/05/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To investigate the independent and joint associations between sedentary behaviors (SB) and physical activity (PA) with inhibitory control (IC) in adults. METHODS A total of 111 participants (median age = 30 years; 60% women), completed the Stroop Color-Words test to assess IC. They also wore accelerometers for seven days to measure SB, light PA, moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), and daily steps. We previously set cutoff points for SB and PA measurements and tested them to determine their association with IC. All analyses were adjusted for potential confounding factors including age, gender, post-secondary education, income, body mass index, and accelerometer wear time. RESULTS Low SB, high MVPA, and high daily steps were independently associated with a better IC compared to their respective counterparts. Adults with low levels of SB and light PA demonstrated better IC performance (β = -227.67, 95%CI = -434.14 to -21.20) compared to those with high SB and low light PA. Conversely, individuals with high SB and high light PA exhibited worse performance (β = 126.80, 95%CI = 2.11 to 251.50) than those in the high SB and low light PA group. Furthermore, the joint association of low SB with high MVPA (β = -491.12, 95%CI = -689.23 to -293.01) or low SB with high daily steps (β = -254.29, 95%CI = -416.41 to -92.16) demonstrated better IC performance compared to those with high SB and low MVPA or low daily steps. CONCLUSION Our findings highlight independent and joint associations between low SB, high MVPA, and high daily steps with enhanced IC in adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maristela Linhares
- Graduate Program in Physical Education, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil
| | | | | | | | | | - Raíssa de Melo Silva
- Graduate Program in Physical Education, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil
| | | | | | - Leônidas de Oliveira Neto
- Department of Arts, Postgraduate Program in Rehabilitation Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil
| | - Felipe Vogt Cureau
- Graduate Program in Physical Education, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil
| | - Hassan Mohamed Elsangedy
- Graduate Program in Physical Education, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil.
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3
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Murphy DH, Castel AD. Serial and strategic memory processes in younger and older adults. NEUROPSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENT, AND COGNITION. SECTION B, AGING, NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2024:1-30. [PMID: 38909315 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2024.2371177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2024] [Accepted: 06/18/2024] [Indexed: 06/24/2024]
Abstract
We investigated age-related differences in serial and strategic processing during the encoding and retrieval of high-value words. Younger and older adults were presented with word triads positioned left, center, and right, with one word being more valuable than the others. In Experiment 1, younger adults more effectively recalled the middle, high-value word, demonstrating enhanced strategic memory. Younger adults were more likely to initiate recall with a high-value word whereas older adults were equally likely to initiate recall with a left and high-value word. Additionally, older adults were more likely to recall words in their presented order while younger adults strategically recalled successive high-value words. However, both age groups demonstrated strategic processing in Experiments 2 and 3, even without prior knowledge of the high-value word's location. Thus, serial and strategic processing may differ based on age and task demands, but strategic processing is preserved in older adults in certain contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dillon H Murphy
- Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Alan D Castel
- Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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4
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Forte G, Troisi G, Favieri F, Casagrande M. Inhibition changes across the lifespan: experimental evidence from the Stroop task. BMC Psychol 2024; 12:336. [PMID: 38849952 PMCID: PMC11162033 DOI: 10.1186/s40359-024-01844-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2024] [Accepted: 06/03/2024] [Indexed: 06/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Individuals constantly exert inhibitory control over their thoughts and behaviors to plan actions that compete with habits and impulses. Cognitive inhibition enhances the selection of task-relevant stimuli and is closely related to neural changes that occur across the lifespan. Since few studies have focused on the entire lifespan, this study aimed to assess cognitive inhibition abilities in a sample of 425 healthy participants (age range: 7-88 years) using the Stroop task. The participants were grouped according to age into children, adolescents, young adults, adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults. A series of ANOVAs considered Group as the independent variable and Performance indices as the dependent variables. The children did not show an interference effect (Stroop effect), likely due to the lack of an automated reading process as a consequence of ongoing brain maturation. Adolescents and young adults performed significantly faster than older adults did. The results indicate that response speed reaches its peak during adolescence and young adulthood and then slightly decreases until older age. Nevertheless, when compared with the other groups, only older adults showed significant differences in the Stroop effect, suggesting that inhibitory abilities remain relatively consistent throughout adulthood but rapidly worsen in recent years due to the physiological decline in cognitive and brain functioning associated with aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giuseppe Forte
- Department of Dynamic, Clinical Psychology and Health Studies, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Giovanna Troisi
- Department of Psychology, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Favieri
- Department of Dynamic, Clinical Psychology and Health Studies, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
| | - Maria Casagrande
- Department of Dynamic, Clinical Psychology and Health Studies, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy
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5
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Contemori G, Saccani MS, Bonato M. Cognitive-Cognitive Dual-task in aging: A cross-sectional online study. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0302152. [PMID: 38848421 PMCID: PMC11161073 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302152] [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: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2024] [Indexed: 06/09/2024] Open
Abstract
The prevalence of neurodegenerative disorders, particularly dementia, is on the rise across many countries worldwide. This negative trend calls for improving our understanding of cognitive aging. While motor-cognitive dual-task approaches have already been proven valuable for clinical diagnosis, comparatively less research is available on the application of Cognitive-Cognitive Dual-Tasking (CCDT), across several cognitive domains. Moreover, there is limited understanding about how healthy aging affects performance in such dual-tasks in the general population. CCDT entails engaging individuals in multiple cognitive tasks simultaneously and holds promise for remote e-Health interventions. In this cross-sectional study, our objective was to evaluate the suitability of a newly developed, self-administered, online tool for examining age-related differences in memory performance under dual-tasking. 337 healthy adults aged 50-90 underwent a visual memory test (Memo) under both single and dual-task conditions (attend to auditory letters). Additional measures included questionnaires on subjective memory complaints (MAC-Q), on cognitive reserve (CR), and a cognitive screening (auto-GEMS). As expected, the accuracy of visual memory performance exhibited a negative correlation with age and MAC-Q, and a positive correlation with CR and auto-GEMS scores. Dual-tasking significantly impaired performance, and its detrimental effect decreased with increasing age. Furthermore, the protective effect of cognitive reserve diminished with advancing age. These findings suggest that the commonly observed age-related increase in dual-task costs is not universally applicable across all tasks and cognitive domains. With further refinement, a longitudinal implementation of this approach may assist in identifying individuals with a distinct cognitive trajectory and potentially at a higher risk of developing cognitive decline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulio Contemori
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Maria Silvia Saccani
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center, Padova, Italy
| | - Mario Bonato
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center, Padova, Italy
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Parimoo S, Grady C, Olsen R. Age-related Differences in Response Inhibition Are Mediated by Frontoparietal White Matter but Not Functional Activity. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:1184-1205. [PMID: 38579242 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02159] [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] [Indexed: 04/07/2024]
Abstract
Healthy older adults often exhibit lower performance but increased functional recruitment of the frontoparietal control network during cognitive control tasks. According to the cortical disconnection hypothesis, age-related changes in the microstructural integrity of white matter may disrupt inter-regional neuronal communication, which in turn can impair behavioral performance. Here, we use fMRI and diffusion-weighted imaging to determine whether age-related differences in white matter microstructure contribute to frontoparietal over-recruitment and behavioral performance during a response inhibition (go/no-go) task in an adult life span sample (n = 145). Older and female participants were slower (go RTs) than younger and male participants, respectively. However, participants across all ages were equally accurate on the no-go trials, suggesting some participants may slow down on go trials to achieve high accuracy on no-go trials. Across the life span, functional recruitment of the frontoparietal network within the left and right hemispheres did not vary as a function of age, nor was it related to white matter fractional anisotropy (FA). In fact, only frontal FA and go RTs jointly mediated the association between age and no-go accuracy. Our results therefore suggest that frontal white matter cortical "disconnection" is an underlying driver of age-related differences in cognitive control, and white matter FA may not fully explain functional task-related activation in the frontoparietal network during the go/no-go task. Our findings add to the literature by demonstrating that white matter may be more important for certain cognitive processes in aging than task-related functional activation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shireen Parimoo
- University of Toronto
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, Canada
| | - Cheryl Grady
- University of Toronto
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, Canada
| | - Rosanna Olsen
- University of Toronto
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, Canada
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Simon C, Bolton DAE, Meaney JF, Kenny RA, Simon VA, De Looze C, Knight S, Ruddy KL. White matter fibre density in the brain's inhibitory control network is associated with falling in low activity older adults. Eur J Neurosci 2024; 59:3184-3202. [PMID: 38638001 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2023] [Revised: 02/20/2024] [Accepted: 03/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024]
Abstract
Recent research has indicated that the relationship between age-related cognitive decline and falling may be mediated by the individual's capacity to quickly cancel or inhibit a motor response. This longitudinal investigation demonstrates that higher white matter fibre density in the motor inhibition network paired with low physical activity was associated with falling in elderly participants. We measured the density of white matter fibre tracts connecting key nodes in the inhibitory control network in a large sample (n = 414) of older adults. We modelled their self-reported frequency of falling over a 4-year period with white matter fibre density in pathways corresponding to the direct and hyperdirect cortical-subcortical loops implicated in the inhibitory control network. Only connectivity between right inferior frontal gyrus and right subthalamic nucleus was associated with falling as measured cross-sectionally. The connectivity was not, however, predictive of future falling when measured 2 and 4 years later. Higher white matter fibre density was associated with falling, but only in combination with low levels of physical activity. No such relationship existed for selected control brain regions that are not implicated in the inhibitory control network. Albeit statistically robust, the direction of this effect was counterintuitive (more dense connectivity associated with falling) and warrants further longitudinal investigation into whether white matter fibre density changes over time in a manner correlated with falling, and mediated by physical activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin Simon
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - David A E Bolton
- Department of Kinesiology and Health Science, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA
| | - James F Meaney
- Centre for Advanced Medical Imaging (CAMI), St James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Rose Anne Kenny
- The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- Discipline of Medical Gerontology, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- Mercer's Institute for Successful Ageing (MISA), St James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Vivienne A Simon
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Céline De Looze
- The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- Discipline of Medical Gerontology, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Silvin Knight
- Discipline of Medical Gerontology, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Kathy L Ruddy
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK
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8
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Kouwenhoven M, Machado L. Age differences in inhibitory and working memory functioning: limited evidence of system interactions. NEUROPSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENT, AND COGNITION. SECTION B, AGING, NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2024; 31:524-555. [PMID: 37195032 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2023.2214348] [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: 05/16/2022] [Accepted: 05/10/2023] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
Debate persists regarding the nature of age-related deficits in inhibition, and whether inhibitory functioning depends on working memory systems. The current research aimed to measure age-related differences in inhibition and working memory, characterize the relationship between inhibitory functions and working memory performance, and determine how these relationships are affected by age. Toward these ends, we measured performance on a range of established paradigms in 60 young adults (18-30 years) and 60 older adults (60-88 years). Our findings support age-related increases in reflexive inhibition (based on the fixation offset effect and inhibition of return) and age-related decrements in volitional inhibition (based on several paradigms: antisaccade, Stroop, flanker, and Simon). This evidence of stronger reflexive inhibition combined with weaker volitional inhibition suggests that age-related deterioration of cortical structures may allow subcortical structures to operate less controlled. Regarding working memory, older adults had lower backward digit scores and lower forward and backward spatial scores. However, of the 32 analyses (16 in each age group) that tested for dependence of inhibitory functioning on working memory functioning, only one (in young adults) indicated that inhibition performance significantly depended on working memory performance. These results indicate that inhibition and working memory function largely independently in both age groups, and age-related working memory difficulties cannot account for age-related declines in inhibitory control.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Liana Machado
- Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
- Brain Research New Zealand, Auckland, New Zealand
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9
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Inui K, Takeuchi N, Borgil B, Shingaki M, Sugiyama S, Taniguchi T, Nishihara M, Watanabe T, Suzuki D, Motomura E, Kida T. Age and sex effects on paired-pulse suppression and prepulse inhibition of auditory evoked potentials. Front Neurosci 2024; 18:1378619. [PMID: 38655109 PMCID: PMC11035799 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1378619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2024] [Accepted: 03/28/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Responses to a sensory stimulus are inhibited by a preceding stimulus; if the two stimuli are identical, paired-pulse suppression (PPS) occurs; if the preceding stimulus is too weak to reliably elicit the target response, prepulse inhibition (PPI) occurs. PPS and PPI represent excitability changes in neural circuits induced by the first stimulus, but involve different mechanisms and are impaired in different diseases, e.g., impaired PPS in schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease and impaired PPI in schizophrenia and movement disorders. Therefore, these measures provide information on several inhibitory mechanisms that may have roles in clinical conditions. In the present study, PPS and PPI of the auditory change-related cortical response were examined to establish normative data on healthy subjects (35 females and 32 males, aged 19-70 years). We also investigated the effects of age and sex on PPS and PPI to clarify whether these variables need to be considered as biases. The test response was elicited by an abrupt increase in sound pressure in a continuous sound and was recorded by electroencephalography. In the PPS experiment, the two change stimuli to elicit the cortical response were a 15-dB increase from the background of 65 dB separated by 600 ms. In the PPI experiment, the prepulse and test stimuli were 2- and 10-dB increases, respectively, with an interval of 50 ms. The results obtained showed that sex exerted similar effects on the two measures, with females having stronger test responses and weaker inhibition. On the other hand, age exerted different effects: aging correlated with stronger test responses and weaker inhibition in the PPS experiment, but had no effects in the PPI experiment. The present results suggest age and sex biases in addition to normative data on PPS and PPI of auditory change-related potentials. PPS and PPI, as well as other similar paradigms, such as P50 gating, may have different and common mechanisms. Collectively, they may provide insights into the pathophysiologies of diseases with impaired inhibitory function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Koji Inui
- Department of Functioning and Disability, Institute for Developmental Research, Aichi Developmental Disability Center, Kasugai, Japan
- Section of Brain Function Information, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan
| | | | - Bayasgalan Borgil
- Department of Functioning and Disability, Institute for Developmental Research, Aichi Developmental Disability Center, Kasugai, Japan
| | - Megumi Shingaki
- Department of Functioning and Disability, Institute for Developmental Research, Aichi Developmental Disability Center, Kasugai, Japan
| | - Shunsuke Sugiyama
- Department of Psychiatry, Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, Gifu, Japan
| | - Tomoya Taniguchi
- Department of Anesthesiology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan
| | - Makoto Nishihara
- Multidisciplinary Pain Center, Aichi Medical University, Nagakute, Japan
| | - Takayasu Watanabe
- Department of Clinical Laboratory, Mie University Hospital, Tsu, Japan
| | - Dai Suzuki
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsu, Japan
| | - Eishi Motomura
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsu, Japan
| | - Tetsuo Kida
- Department of Functioning and Disability, Institute for Developmental Research, Aichi Developmental Disability Center, Kasugai, Japan
- Section of Brain Function Information, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Japan
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Münster ND, Schmalbrock P, Bäumer T, Hommel B, Beste C, Münchau A, Frings C. Separating binding and retrieval of event files in older adults. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2024; 244:104190. [PMID: 38368782 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2023] [Revised: 02/09/2024] [Accepted: 02/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/20/2024] Open
Abstract
In the literature on human action control, it is assumed that features of stimuli (S) and responses (R) are integrated into internal representations (so-called event files) that are involved in the execution of an action. Experimentally, the impact of this integration on action control is typically analyzed via S-R binding effects. Recent theorizing in the BRAC framework (Frings et al., 2020) suggests to disentangle the processes of S-R binding proper from S-R retrieval as two independent components contributing to S-R binding effects. Since the literature on age effects on S-R binding effects is scarce and does not provide information on whether the existing findings about the two processes can be generalized to older age groups, this is the first study addressing the effects of older age separately on S-R binding proper vs. S-R retrieval. In two established variants of S-R binding tasks (cumulative n = 262), we contrasted binding (by using a saliency manipulation at the time of binding proper) versus retrieval processes (by manipulating the onset of the distractor at the time of retrieval), replicating previous results in younger (18-30 years) and also in older healthy controls (50-70 years). We therefore found no evidence for age effects on S-R binding proper or S-R retrieval. We thus conclude that the processes contributing to S-R binding effects are - at least in the age groups analyzed in this study - robust and age-independent. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: In human action control, binding proper and retrieval of features in stimulus-response episodes typically lead to so-called S-R binding effects. Against the background of recent theorizing, binding proper and retrieval should be studied independently. In this article, we ran a younger and an older age group and analyzed possible age-related differences in integration or retrieval. Both groups showed the expected pattern for binding and retrieval as expected from the literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas D Münster
- Department of Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, University of Trier, Trier, Germany; Institute for Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience (ICAN), University of Trier, Trier, Germany.
| | - Philip Schmalbrock
- Department of Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, University of Trier, Trier, Germany; Institute for Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience (ICAN), University of Trier, Trier, Germany.
| | - Tobias Bäumer
- Institute of Systems Motor Science, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
| | - Bernhard Hommel
- Faculty of Medicine, University Neuropsychology Center, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany; Cognitive Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
| | - Christian Beste
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Cognitive Neurophysiology, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
| | - Alexander Münchau
- Institute of Systems Motor Science, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
| | - Christian Frings
- Department of Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, University of Trier, Trier, Germany; Institute for Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience (ICAN), University of Trier, Trier, Germany.
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Gaubert F, Borg C, Roux JC, Chainay H. Decision-making and ageing: everyday life situations under risk and under ambiguity. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2024; 77:747-766. [PMID: 37277919 DOI: 10.1177/17470218231182403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Cognitive modifications during ageing can affect decision-making competence (DMC). As this ability is central to the preservation of autonomy, our study aims to investigate how it changes in elderly adults and to determine whether such changes are linked to the deterioration of executive functions and working memory. To this end, 50 young adults and 50 elderly adults were assessed with executive, working memory, and DMC tasks. The latter comprised the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and a scenario task based on situations inspired by everyday life, under conditions of both risk and ambiguity. The results revealed lower performances in old than in young adults for the updating, inhibition, and working memory tasks. The IGT failed to distinguish between the two age groups. However, the scenario task did permit such a distinction, with young adults seeking more risky and ambiguous choices than elderly adults. Moreover, updating and inhibition capacities appeared to influence DMC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fanny Gaubert
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs (EMC), Université Lyon 2, Bron, France
| | - Céline Borg
- CMRR, Hôpital Nord, Saint Priest-en Jarez, France
- Psychology Faculty, Catholic University of Lyon, Lyon, France
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, University of Grenoble Alpes, Saint Priest-en Jarez, France
| | - Jean-Christophe Roux
- Laboratoire de Tribologie et Dynamique des Systèmes (LTDS), Ecole Nationale d'Ingénieurs Saint-Etienne (ENISE), Saint-Etienne cedex 2, France
| | - Hanna Chainay
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs (EMC), Université Lyon 2, Bron, France
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12
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Loaiza VM. An overview of the hallmarks of cognitive aging. Curr Opin Psychol 2024; 56:101784. [PMID: 38198908 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2023.101784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 12/08/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024]
Abstract
Although the notion of cognitive aging is commonly associated with decline in popular culture, a wealth of scientific literature shows that cognitive aging is more aptly characterized as multidirectional, such that trajectories of cognitive changes include areas of stability and growth (e.g., general knowledge) in addition to decline (e.g., episodic long-term memory). This article overviews these multidirectional trajectories, the heterogeneous factors that moderate the rate of change across individual trajectories, and the extensive literature that has investigated the most important factors, such as working memory, that constrain cognition across the adult lifespan. In light of the multidirectional nature of cognitive change, increasing research has considered methods to leverage the often-overlooked benefits of getting older to ameliorate cognitive deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vanessa M Loaiza
- University of Sheffield, Department of Psychology, 219 Portobello, Sheffield, S1 4DP, United Kingdom.
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13
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Friehs MA, Schmalbrock P, Merz S, Dechant M, Hartwigsen G, Frings C. A touching advantage: cross-modal stop-signals improve reactive response inhibition. Exp Brain Res 2024; 242:599-618. [PMID: 38227008 PMCID: PMC10894768 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-023-06767-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/17/2024]
Abstract
The ability to inhibit an already initiated response is crucial for navigating the environment. However, it is unclear which characteristics make stop-signals more likely to be processed efficiently. In three consecutive studies, we demonstrate that stop-signal modality and location are key factors that influence reactive response inhibition. Study 1 shows that tactile stop-signals lead to better performance compared to visual stop-signals in an otherwise visual choice-reaction task. Results of Study 2 reveal that the location of the stop-signal matters. Specifically, if a visual stop-signal is presented at a different location compared to the visual go-signal, then stopping performance is enhanced. Extending these results, study 3 suggests that tactile stop-signals and location-distinct visual stop-signals retain their performance enhancing effect when visual distractors are presented at the location of the go-signal. In sum, these results confirm that stop-signal modality and location influence reactive response inhibition, even in the face of concurrent distractors. Future research may extend and generalize these findings to other cross-modal setups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maximilian A Friehs
- Psychology of Conflict, Risk and Safety, Department of Technology, Human and Institutional Behaviour, Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands.
- School of Psychology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
- Lise-Meitner Research Group Cognition and Plasticity, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Philipp Schmalbrock
- Department of General Psychology and Methodology, Trier University, Trier, Germany
| | - Simon Merz
- Department of General Psychology and Methodology, Trier University, Trier, Germany
| | - Martin Dechant
- UCLIC, University College London, London, UK
- ZEISS Vision Science Lab, Carl Zeiss Vision International GmbH, Turnstrasse 27, 73430, Aalen, Germany
| | - Gesa Hartwigsen
- Lise-Meitner Research Group Cognition and Plasticity, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Christian Frings
- Department of General Psychology and Methodology, Trier University, Trier, Germany
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14
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Jones SA, Noppeney U. Older adults preserve audiovisual integration through enhanced cortical activations, not by recruiting new regions. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002494. [PMID: 38319934 PMCID: PMC10871488 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002494] [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: 01/28/2023] [Revised: 02/16/2024] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 02/08/2024] Open
Abstract
Effective interactions with the environment rely on the integration of multisensory signals: Our brains must efficiently combine signals that share a common source, and segregate those that do not. Healthy ageing can change or impair this process. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study assessed the neural mechanisms underlying age differences in the integration of auditory and visual spatial cues. Participants were presented with synchronous audiovisual signals at various degrees of spatial disparity and indicated their perceived sound location. Behaviourally, older adults were able to maintain localisation accuracy. At the neural level, they integrated auditory and visual cues into spatial representations along dorsal auditory and visual processing pathways similarly to their younger counterparts but showed greater activations in a widespread system of frontal, temporal, and parietal areas. According to multivariate Bayesian decoding, these areas encoded critical stimulus information beyond that which was encoded in the brain areas commonly activated by both groups. Surprisingly, however, the boost in information provided by these areas with age-related activation increases was comparable across the 2 age groups. This dissociation-between comparable information encoded in brain activation patterns across the 2 age groups, but age-related increases in regional blood-oxygen-level-dependent responses-contradicts the widespread notion that older adults recruit new regions as a compensatory mechanism to encode task-relevant information. Instead, our findings suggest that activation increases in older adults reflect nonspecific or modulatory mechanisms related to less efficient or slower processing, or greater demands on attentional resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel A. Jones
- Computational Neuroscience and Cognitive Robotics Centre, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
- Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Uta Noppeney
- Computational Neuroscience and Cognitive Robotics Centre, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition & Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
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15
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Healey R, Goldsworthy M, Salomoni S, Weber S, Kemp S, Hinder MR, St George RJ. Impaired motor inhibition during perceptual inhibition in older, but not younger adults: a psychophysiological study. Sci Rep 2024; 14:2023. [PMID: 38263414 PMCID: PMC10805883 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-52269-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2023] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 01/25/2024] Open
Abstract
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) governs the ability to rapidly cancel planned movements when no longer appropriate (motor inhibition) and ignore distracting stimuli (perceptual inhibition). It is unclear to what extent these processes interact, and how they are impacted by age. The interplay between perceptual and motor inhibition was investigated using a Flanker Task, a Stop Signal Task and a combined Stop Signal Flanker Task in healthy young (n = 33, Mean = 24 years) and older adults (n = 32, Mean = 71 years). PFC activity was measured with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), while electromyography (EMG) measured muscle activity in the fingers used to respond to the visual cues. Perceptual inhibition (the degree to which incongruent flankers slowed response time to a central cue) and motor inhibition (the speed of cancellation of EMG activation following stop cues) independently declined with age. When both processes were engaged together, PFC activity increased for both age groups, however only older adults exhibited slower motor inhibition. The results indicate that cortical upregulation was sufficient to compensate for the increased task demands in younger but not older adults, suggesting potential resource sharing and neural limitations particularly in older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Healey
- Sensorimotor Neuroscience and Ageing Research Laboratory, School of Psychological Sciences, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
| | - Megan Goldsworthy
- Sensorimotor Neuroscience and Ageing Research Laboratory, School of Psychological Sciences, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
| | - Sauro Salomoni
- Sensorimotor Neuroscience and Ageing Research Laboratory, School of Psychological Sciences, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
| | - Simon Weber
- Sensorimotor Neuroscience and Ageing Research Laboratory, School of Psychological Sciences, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
| | - Sarah Kemp
- Sensorimotor Neuroscience and Ageing Research Laboratory, School of Psychological Sciences, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
- Integrative Model-Based Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Mark R Hinder
- Sensorimotor Neuroscience and Ageing Research Laboratory, School of Psychological Sciences, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
| | - Rebecca J St George
- Sensorimotor Neuroscience and Ageing Research Laboratory, School of Psychological Sciences, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.
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16
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Abugu EU, Harper SA, Kim Y, Bolton DAE. Prefrontal activation when suppressing an automatic balance recovery step. Gait Posture 2024; 107:281-286. [PMID: 38349937 DOI: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2023.10.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2023] [Revised: 05/19/2023] [Accepted: 10/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The present study investigated neural mechanisms for suppressing a highly automatic balance recovery step. Response inhibition has typically been researched using focal hand reaction tasks performed by seated participants, and this has revealed a neural stopping network including the Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG). It is unclear if the same neural networks contribute to suppressing an unwanted balance reaction. RESEARCH QUESTION Is there greater IFG activation when suppressing an automatic balance recovery step? METHODS Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to measure brain activity in 21 young adults as they performed a balance recovery task that demanded rapid step suppression following postural perturbation. The hypothesis was that the IFG would show heightened activity when suppressing an automatic balance recovery step. A lean and-release system was used to impose temporally unpredictable forward perturbations by releasing participants from a supported forward lean. For most trials (80%), participants were told to recover balance by quickly stepping forward (STEP). However, on 20% of trials at random, a high-pitch tone was played immediately after postural perturbation signaling participants to suppress a step and fully relax into a catch harness (STOP). This allowed us to target the ability to cancel an already initiated step in a balance recovery context. Average oxygenated hemoglobin changes were contrasted between STEP and STOP trials, 1-6 s post perturbation. RESULTS The results showed a greater bilateral prefrontal response during STOP trials, supporting the idea that executive brain networks are active when suppressing a balance recovery step. SIGNIFICANCE Our study demonstrates one way in which higher brain processes may help us prevent falls in complex environments where behavioral flexibility is necessary. This study also presents a novel method for assessing response inhibition in an upright postural context where rapid stepping reactions are required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ezinne U Abugu
- Department of Kinesiology and Health Science, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA.
| | - Sara A Harper
- Department of Kinesiology and Health Science, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA; Sorenson Center for Clinical Excellence, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA; Kinesiology Department, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL, USA.
| | - Youngwook Kim
- Department of Kinesiology and Health Science, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA; Sorenson Center for Clinical Excellence, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA; Kyungil University, 50, Gamasil-gil, Hayang-eup, Gyeongsan-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Republic of Korea.
| | - David A E Bolton
- Department of Kinesiology and Health Science, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA; Sorenson Center for Clinical Excellence, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA.
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17
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Qi L, Wang GL, Yang YL, Yang SY, Liu LQ, Zhang JW. Positive effects of brisk walking and Tai Chi on cognitive function in older adults: An fNIRS study. Physiol Behav 2024; 273:114390. [PMID: 37890605 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2023.114390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2023] [Revised: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 10/24/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023]
Abstract
Exercise has shown to have beneficial effects on cognition in older adults. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cortical hemodynamic responses during the word-color Stroop test (WCST) prior and after acute walking and Tai Chi exercise by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Twenty participants (9 males, mean age 62.8 ± 5.2), first underwent a baseline WCST test, after which they took three WCST tests in a randomized order, (a) after sitting rest (control), (b) after 6 minutes performing Tai Chi Quan, and (c) after a bout of 6 minutes brisk walking. During these four WCST tests cortical hemodynamic changes in the prefrontal area were monitored with fNIRS. Both brisk walking and Tai Chi enhanced hemodynamic activity during the Stroop incongruent tasks, leading to improved cognitive performance (quicker reaction time). Brisk walking induced a greater hemodynamic activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) area, whereas Tai Chi induced a greater bilateral hemodynamic activity in the DLPFC and VLPFC areas. The present study provided empirical evidence of enhanced hemodynamic response in task- specific regions of the brain that can be achieved by a mere six minutes of brisk walking or Tai Chi in older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liping Qi
- School of Artificial intelligence, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China.
| | - Guo-Liang Wang
- School of Artificial intelligence, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China
| | - Yu-Long Yang
- Faculty of Physical Education, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China
| | - Shu-Ye Yang
- Faculty of Physical Education, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China
| | - Li-Qing Liu
- Faculty of Physical Education, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China
| | - Jian-Wei Zhang
- School of Artificial intelligence, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China
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18
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Parimoo S, Choi A, Iafrate L, Grady C, Olsen R. Are older adults susceptible to visual distraction when targets and distractors are spatially separated? NEUROPSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENT, AND COGNITION. SECTION B, AGING, NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2024; 31:38-74. [PMID: 36059213 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2022.2117271] [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: 10/11/2021] [Accepted: 08/22/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Older adults show preserved memory for previously distracting information due to reduced inhibitory control. In some previous studies, targets and distractors overlap both temporally and spatially. We investigated whether age differences in attentional orienting and disengagement affect recognition memory when targets and distractors are spatially separated at encoding. In Experiments 1 and 2, eye movements were recorded while participants completed an incidental encoding task under covert (i.e., restricted viewing) and overt (i.e., free-viewing) conditions, respectively. The encoding task consisted of pairs of target and distractor item-color stimuli presented in separate visual hemifields. Prior to stimulus onset, a central cue indicated the location of the upcoming target. Participants were subsequently tested on their recognition of the items, their location, and the associated color. In Experiment 3, targets were validly cued on 75% of the encoding trials; on invalid trials, participants had to disengage their attention from the distractor and reorient to the target. Associative memory for colors was reduced among older adults across all experiments, though their location memory was only reduced in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, older and younger adults directed a similar proportion of fixations toward targets and distractors. Explicit recognition of distractors did not differ between age groups in any of the experiments. However, older adults were slower to correctly recognize distractors than false alarm to novel items in Experiment 2, suggesting some implicit memory for distraction. Together, these results demonstrate that older adults may only be vulnerable to encoding visual distraction when viewing behavior is unconstrained.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shireen Parimoo
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Anika Choi
- Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | | | - Cheryl Grady
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Rosanna Olsen
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
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19
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Bolton DAE, Baggett CC, Mitton CA, Harper SA, Richardson JK. Suppressing a Blocked Balance Recovery Step: A Novel Method to Assess an Inhibitory Postural Response. Brain Sci 2023; 13:1488. [PMID: 37891855 PMCID: PMC10605013 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13101488] [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: 09/20/2023] [Revised: 10/16/2023] [Accepted: 10/19/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Stepping to recover balance is an important way we avoid falling. However, when faced with obstacles in the step path, we must adapt such reactions. Physical obstructions are typically detected through vision, which then cues step modification. The present study describes a novel method to assess visually prompted step inhibition in a reactive balance context. In our task, participants recovered balance by quickly stepping after being released from a supported forward lean. On rare trials, however, an obstacle blocked the stepping path. The timing of vision relative to postural perturbation was controlled using occlusion goggles to regulate task difficulty. Furthermore, we explored step suppression in our balance task related to inhibitory capacity measured at the hand using a clinically feasible handheld device (ReacStick). Our results showed that ReacStick and step outcomes were significantly correlated in terms of successful inhibition (r = 0.57) and overall reaction accuracy (r = 0.76). This study presents a novel method for assessing rapid inhibition in a dynamic postural context, a capacity that appears to be a necessary prerequisite to a subsequent adaptive strategy. Moreover, this capacity is significantly related to ReacStick performance, suggesting a potential clinical translation.
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Affiliation(s)
- David A. E. Bolton
- Department of Kinesiology and Health Science, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA; (C.C.B.IV); (C.A.M.); (S.A.H.)
- Sorenson Center for Clinical Excellence, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA
| | - Charlie C. Baggett
- Department of Kinesiology and Health Science, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA; (C.C.B.IV); (C.A.M.); (S.A.H.)
| | - Chase A. Mitton
- Department of Kinesiology and Health Science, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA; (C.C.B.IV); (C.A.M.); (S.A.H.)
| | - Sara A. Harper
- Department of Kinesiology and Health Science, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA; (C.C.B.IV); (C.A.M.); (S.A.H.)
- Sorenson Center for Clinical Excellence, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA
- Kinesiology Department, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899, USA
| | - James K. Richardson
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA;
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20
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Mikneviciute G, Allaert J, Pulopulos MM, De Raedt R, Kliegel M, Ballhausen N. Acute stress impacts reaction times in older but not in young adults in a flanker task. Sci Rep 2023; 13:17690. [PMID: 37848597 PMCID: PMC10582047 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-44356-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Acute psychosocial stress effects on inhibition have been investigated in young adults, but little is known about these effects in older adults. The present study investigated effects of the Trier Social Stress Test on cognitive inhibition (i.e., ability to ignore distracting information) using a cross-over (stress vs. control) design in healthy young (N = 50; 18-30 years; Mage = 23.06) versus older adults (N = 50; 65-84 years; Mage = 71.12). Cognitive inhibition was measured by a letter flanker task and psychophysiological measures (cortisol, heart rate, subjective stress) validated the stress induction. The results showed that while stress impaired overall accuracy across age groups and sessions, stress (vs. control) made older adults' faster in session 1 and slower in session 2. Given that session 2 effects were likely confounded by practice effects, these results suggest that acute psychosocial stress improved older adults' RTs on a novel flanker task but impaired RTs on a practiced flanker task. That is, the interaction between stress and learning effects might negatively affect response execution when testing older adults on flanker tasks. If confirmed by future research, these results might have important implications especially in settings where repeated cognitive testing is performed under acute stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Greta Mikneviciute
- NCCR LIVES-Overcoming Vulnerability: Life Course Perspectives, Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
- Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Boulevard du Pont d'Arve 28, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Jens Allaert
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Ghent Experimental Psychiatry Lab, Department of Head and Skin, Ghent University, University Hospital Ghent (UZ Ghent), Ghent, Belgium
| | - Matias M Pulopulos
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Rudi De Raedt
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Ghent Experimental Psychiatry Lab, Department of Head and Skin, Ghent University, University Hospital Ghent (UZ Ghent), Ghent, Belgium
| | - Matthias Kliegel
- NCCR LIVES-Overcoming Vulnerability: Life Course Perspectives, Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Boulevard du Pont d'Arve 28, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland
- Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Nicola Ballhausen
- Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Boulevard du Pont d'Arve 28, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland
- Department of Developmental Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands
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21
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Achaa-Amankwaa P, Kushnereva E, Miksch H, Stumme J, Heim S, Ebersbach M. Multilingualism is associated with small task-specific advantages in cognitive performance of older adults. Sci Rep 2023; 13:16912. [PMID: 37805638 PMCID: PMC10560281 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-43961-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2023] [Accepted: 09/30/2023] [Indexed: 10/09/2023] Open
Abstract
The protective effects of multiple language knowledge on the maintenance of cognitive functions in older adults have been discussed controversially, among others, because of methodological inconsistencies between studies. In a sample of N = 528 German monolinguals and multilinguals (speaking two or more languages) older than 60 years, this study examined (1) whether speaking multiple languages is positively related to performance on tasks of interference suppression, working memory, concept shifting, and phonemic and semantic fluency, and (2) whether language proficiency and age of second language acquisition (AoA) are associated with cognitive performance of multilinguals. Controlling for education and daily activity, we found small cognitive benefits of speaking multiple languages on interference suppression, working memory, and phonemic fluency, but not on concept shifting and semantic fluency. Furthermore, no substantive correlations were found between language proficiency or AoA and cognitive performance. In conclusion, multilingualism appears to have small incremental effects on cognitive performance beyond education and daily activity in older age that are task-specific and widely independent of proficiency and AoA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Priscilla Achaa-Amankwaa
- Institute of Psychology, University of Kassel, Holländische Strasse 36-38, 34127, Kassel, Germany.
| | - Ekaterina Kushnereva
- Institute of Psychology, University of Kassel, Holländische Strasse 36-38, 34127, Kassel, Germany
| | - Hanna Miksch
- Institute of Psychology, University of Kassel, Holländische Strasse 36-38, 34127, Kassel, Germany
| | - Johanna Stumme
- Institute of Anatomy I, Medical Faculty & University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Stefan Heim
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Mirjam Ebersbach
- Institute of Psychology, University of Kassel, Holländische Strasse 36-38, 34127, Kassel, Germany
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22
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Chen EH, Hsieh S. The effect of age on task switching: updated and extended meta-analyses. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2023; 87:2011-2030. [PMID: 36729159 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-023-01794-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2022] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Cognitive flexibility is one of the crucial abilities for human survival. As people get older, whether their flexibility ability will be affected is one of the core research topics in aging research. Researchers have developed a task-switch paradigm in laboratories to mimic daily-life shifting task-set scenarios. However, the empirical evidence is equivocal. Considering every single study may have a biased sample; therefore, we hoped to combine smaller studies, making them into one extensive investigation, which may help show an actual effect. In the current study, we used two meta-analysis techniques, the Brinley plot (along with the State-trace plot) and conventional meta-analysis, to re-evaluate whether healthy aging influences cognitive flexibility. The results of the Brinley plot analysis showed no evidence of switch-specific age-related impairment as indexed by the local switch cost. Yet, older adults performed more slowly than younger adults across task conditions. The conventional meta-analysis further showed that the currently available findings were heterogenous and exhibited publication bias. Therefore, this study suggests that researchers should interpret their results cautiously while using a task-switching paradigm to address older adults' shifting abilities. More parametric variables must be considered and developed in a task-switching paradigm to enhance its sensitivity and reveal older adults' actual shifting ability.
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Affiliation(s)
- En-Ho Chen
- Cognitive Electrophysiology Laboratory: Control, Aging, Sleep, and Emotion (CASE), Department of Psychology, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Shulan Hsieh
- Cognitive Electrophysiology Laboratory: Control, Aging, Sleep, and Emotion (CASE), Department of Psychology, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
- Institute of Allied Health Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
- Department of Public Health, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
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23
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Getzmann S, Reiser JE, Gajewski PD, Schneider D, Karthaus M, Wascher E. Cognitive aging at work and in daily life-a narrative review on challenges due to age-related changes in central cognitive functions. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1232344. [PMID: 37621929 PMCID: PMC10445145 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1232344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2023] [Accepted: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Demographic change is leading to an increasing proportion of older employees in the labor market. At the same time, work activities are becoming more and more complex and require a high degree of flexibility, adaptability, and cognitive performance. Cognitive control mechanism, which is subject to age-related changes and is important in numerous everyday and work activities, plays a special role. Executive functions with its core functions updating, shifting, and inhibition comprises cognitive control mechanisms that serve to plan, coordinate, and achieve higher-level goals especially in inexperienced and conflicting actions. In this review, influences of age-related changes in cognitive control are demonstrated with reference to work and real-life activities, in which the selection of an information or response in the presence of competing but task-irrelevant stimuli or responses is particularly required. These activities comprise the understanding of spoken language under difficult listening conditions, dual-task walking, car driving in critical traffic situations, and coping with work interruptions. Mechanisms for compensating age-related limitations in cognitive control and their neurophysiological correlates are discussed with a focus on EEG measures. The examples illustrate how to access influences of age and cognitive control on and in everyday and work activities, focusing on its functional role for the work ability and well-being of older people.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephan Getzmann
- Leibniz Research Center for Working Environment and Human Factors at the Technical University of Dortmund (IfADo), Dortmund, Germany
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24
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Dexter M, Ossmy O. The effects of typical ageing on cognitive control: recent advances and future directions. Front Aging Neurosci 2023; 15:1231410. [PMID: 37577352 PMCID: PMC10416634 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1231410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Accepted: 07/13/2023] [Indexed: 08/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Cognitive control is one of the most fundamental aspects of human life. Its ageing is an important contemporary research area due to the needs of the growing ageing population, such as prolonged independence and quality of life. Traditional ageing research argued for a global decline in cognitive control with age, typically characterised by slowing processing speed and driven by changes in the frontal cortex. However, recent advances questioned this perspective by demonstrating high heterogeneity in the ageing data, domain-specific declines, activity changes in resting state networks, and increased functional connectivity. Moreover, improvements in neuroimaging techniques have enabled researchers to develop compensatory models of neural reorganisation that helps negate the effects of neural losses and promote cognitive control. In this article on typical ageing, we review recent behavioural and neural findings related to the decline in cognitive control among older adults. We begin by reviewing traditional perspectives and continue with how recent work challenged those perspectives. In the discussion section, we propose key areas of focus for future research in the field.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ori Ossmy
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
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25
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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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Riva F, Pronizius E, Lenger M, Kronbichler M, Silani G, Lamm C. Age-related differences in interference control in the context of a finger-lifting task: an fMRI study. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2023; 18:nsad034. [PMID: 37279968 PMCID: PMC10329405 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsad034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2022] [Revised: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans tend to automatically imitate others and their actions while also being able to control such imitative tendencies. Interference control, necessary to suppress own imitative tendencies, develops rapidly in childhood and adolescence, plateaus in adulthood and slowly declines with advancing age. It remains to be shown though which neural processes underpin these differences across the lifespan. In a cross-sectional functional magnetic resonance imaging study with three age groups (adolescents (ADs) 14-17 years, young adults (YAs) 21-31, older adults (OAs) 56-76, N = 91 healthy female participants), we investigated the behavioral and neural correlates of interference control in the context of automatic imitation using the finger-lifting task. ADs showed the most efficient interference control, while no significant differences emerged between YAs and OAs, despite OAs showing longer reaction times. On the neural level, all age groups showed engagement of the right temporoparietal junction, right supramarginal gyrus and bilateral insula, aligning well with studies previously using this task. However, our analyses did not reveal any age-related differences in brain activation, neither in these nor in other areas. This suggests that ADs might have a more efficient use of the engaged brain networks and, on the other hand, OAs' capacity for interference control and the associated brain functions might be largely preserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Federica Riva
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1010, Austria
| | - Ekaterina Pronizius
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1010, Austria
| | - Melanie Lenger
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg 5020, Austria
| | - Martin Kronbichler
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg 5020, Austria
- Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler Clinic, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg 5020, Austria
| | - Giorgia Silani
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1010, Austria
| | - Claus Lamm
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1010, Austria
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Goldrick M, Gollan TH. Inhibitory control of the dominant language: Reversed language dominance is the tip of the iceberg. JOURNAL OF MEMORY AND LANGUAGE 2023; 130:104410. [PMID: 36873561 PMCID: PMC9983628 DOI: 10.1016/j.jml.2023.104410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Theories of speech production have proposed that in contexts where multiple languages are produced, bilinguals inhibit the dominant language with the goal of making both languages equally accessible. This process often overshoots this goal, leading to a surprising pattern: better performance in the nondominant vs. dominant language, or reversed language dominance effects. However, the reliability of this effect in single word production studies with cued language switches has been challenged by a recent meta-analysis. Correcting for errors in this analysis, we find that dominance effects are reliably reduced and reversed during language mixing. Reversed dominance has also consistently been reported in the production of connected speech elicited by reading aloud of mixed language paragraphs. When switching, bilinguals produced translation-equivalent intrusion errors (e.g., saying pero instead of but) more often when intending to produce words in the dominant language. We show this dominant language vulnerability is not exclusive to switching out of the nondominant language and extends to non-switch words, linking connected speech results to patterns first reported in single word studies. Reversed language dominance is a robust phenomenon that reflects the tip of the iceberg of inhibitory control of the dominant language in bilingual language production.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Tamar H. Gollan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego
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Dubravac M, Meier B. Overshooting cognitive control adjustments in older age: Evidence from conflict- and error-related slowing in the Stroop, Simon, and flanker tasks. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2023; 234:103874. [PMID: 36857883 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.103874] [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: 09/15/2022] [Revised: 02/14/2023] [Accepted: 02/21/2023] [Indexed: 03/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Although humans gain considerable knowledge from young to older adulthood, aging is also associated with cognitive deficits. This study investigated age-related changes in dynamic cognitive control adjustments after cognitive conflicts and errors. Specifically, we compared younger and older adults' time courses of two established phenomena - post-conflict slowing and post-error slowing. Both age groups completed modified versions of three widely used cognitive conflict tasks (Stroop, Simon, and flanker task). In these tasks, occasional incongruent information triggered a conflict that had to be resolved accordingly but sometimes elicited errors. We tracked conflict- and error-related slowing across four trials after a correct conflict trial (i.e., post-conflict slowing) and an incorrect conflict trial (i.e., post-error slowing). Post-error slowing was generally stronger than post-conflict slowing. Older adults showed a disproportionally strong slowing on the first post-error trial compared to younger adults. In contrast, on subsequent trials, older adults showed a relatively stronger speed up. This pattern of results was consistent across all three tasks. The greater cross-trial response time changes in older adults suggests a deficit in fine-tuning cognitive control adjustments.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Beat Meier
- Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Switzerland.
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Ménétré E, Laganaro M. The temporal dynamics of the Stroop effect from childhood to young and older adulthood. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0256003. [PMID: 36996048 PMCID: PMC10062650 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 03/31/2023] Open
Abstract
The processes involved in the Stroop task/effect are thought to involve conflict detection and resolution stages. Little is known about the evolution of these two components over the lifespan. It is well admitted that children and older adults tend to show longer response latencies than young adults. The present study aims at clarifying the rational of such changes from childhood to adulthood and in aging by comparing the impacted cognitive processes across age groups. More precisely, the aim was to clarify if all processes take more time to be executed, hence implying that longer latencies rely mainly on processing speed or if an additional process lengthens the resolution of the conflict in children and/or older adults. To this aim we recorded brain electrical activity using EEG in school-age children, young and older adults while they performed a classic verbal Stroop task. The signal was decomposed in microstate brain networks, and age groups and conditions were compared. Behavioral results evolved following an inverted U-shaped curve. In children, different brain states from the ones observed in adults were highlighted, both in the conflict detection and resolution time-windows. Longer latencies in the incongruent condition were mainly attributed to an overly increased duration of the microstates involved in the conflict resolution time window. In aging, the same microstate maps were reported for both young and older adult groups. The differences in performances between groups could be explained by a disproportionally long conflict detection phase, even compressing the latest stage of response articulation. These results tend to favor a specific immaturity of the brain networks involved coupled with a slowing of the processes in children, while cognitive decline could be mostly explained by a general slowing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Ménétré
- Laboratory of NeuroPsychoLinguistic, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Marina Laganaro
- Laboratory of NeuroPsychoLinguistic, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland
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Hsieh S, Chen EH. Specific but not general declines in attention and executive function with aging: Converging cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence across the adult lifespan. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1108725. [PMID: 37008838 PMCID: PMC10050892 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1108725] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2022] [Accepted: 02/24/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2023] Open
Abstract
ObjectiveAttention and executive function (EF) are vulnerable to aging. However, whether all these functions generally decline with aging is not known. Furthermore, most evidence is based on cross-sectional data and fewer follow-up data are available in the literature. Longitudinal follow-up studies are necessary to characterize individualized and precise changes in cognitive function. Additionally, relatively few aging studies have included middle-aged adults to examine age-related differences in attention and EF. Therefore, this study aims to examine whether general or specific attention and EF decline with aging from adulthood to old age by combining cross-sectional and longitudinal follow-up approaches.MethodsThis study recruited 253 participants aged 20 to 78 years. passing a prescreening procedure (see main text for detail) for the baseline session, and 123 of them were invited to return 1 ~ 2 years after their first visit to participate in the follow-up session. The participants completed a series of attention and EF tasks at both the baseline and follow-up sessions, which measured alerting, orienting, conflict control, stopping, memory updating, and switching abilities. We applied linear and nonlinear regression models to evaluate the cross-sectional age effect on attention and EF and employed a modified Brinley plot to inspect follow-up performance against baseline in attention and EF.ResultsThe results of cross-sectional data showed that older adults exhibited decreased efficiency in alerting, stopping, and memory updating but paradoxically increased efficiency in conflict control and switching abilities and no changes in orienting efficiency with age. However, the results of longitudinal data showed that only alerting and memory updating continued to show decreased efficiency. Furthermore, conflict control and switching showed increased efficiency with aging, whereas the orienting network, and stopping no longer showed decreased efficiency.ConclusionThus, converging the cross-sectional and longitudinal data showed that the alerting and memory updating function exhibited the most robust deficit with age (cross-sectional) and aging (longitudinal). Alerting and memory updating abilities are crucial survival skills for human beings. Therefore, developing methods to prevent and improve an individual’s alertness and working memory ability is an important practical issue in aging research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shulan Hsieh
- Cognitive Electrophysiology Laboratory: Control, Aging, Sleep, and Emotion (CASE), Department of Psychology, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
- Institute of Allied Health Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
- Department of Public Health, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
- *Correspondence: Shulan Hsieh,
| | - En-Ho Chen
- Cognitive Electrophysiology Laboratory: Control, Aging, Sleep, and Emotion (CASE), Department of Psychology, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
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Wong YS, Willoughby AR, Machado L. Reconceptualizing mind wandering from a switching perspective. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2023; 87:357-372. [PMID: 35348846 PMCID: PMC9928802 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-022-01676-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Accepted: 03/10/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Mind wandering is a universal phenomenon in which our attention shifts away from the task at hand toward task-unrelated thoughts. Despite it inherently involving a shift in mental set, little is known about the role of cognitive flexibility in mind wandering. In this article we consider the potential of cognitive flexibility as a mechanism for mediating and/or regulating the occurrence of mind wandering. Our review begins with a brief introduction to the prominent theories of mind wandering-the executive failure hypothesis, the decoupling hypothesis, the process-occurrence framework, and the resource-control account of sustained attention. Then, after discussing their respective merits and weaknesses, we put forward a new perspective of mind wandering focused on cognitive flexibility, which provides an account more in line with the data to date, including why older populations experience a reduction in mind wandering. After summarizing initial evidence prompting this new perspective, drawn from several mind-wandering and task-switching studies, we recommend avenues for future research aimed at further understanding the importance of cognitive flexibility in mind wandering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Sheng Wong
- Department of Psychology and Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, William James Building, 275 Leith Walk, Dunedin, 9016, New Zealand.
- Brain Research New Zealand, Auckland, New Zealand.
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading Malaysia, Nusajaya, Malaysia.
| | - Adrian R Willoughby
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading Malaysia, Nusajaya, Malaysia
- Department of Psychology, Monash University Malaysia, Subang Jaya, Malaysia
| | - Liana Machado
- Department of Psychology and Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, William James Building, 275 Leith Walk, Dunedin, 9016, New Zealand
- Brain Research New Zealand, Auckland, New Zealand
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32
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Netz Y, Herschkovitz SF, Levin O, Ziv G. The effect of acute exercise on cognitive and motor inhibition - Does fitness moderate this effect? PSYCHOLOGY OF SPORT AND EXERCISE 2023; 65:102344. [PMID: 37665827 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2022.102344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2022] [Revised: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 11/22/2022] [Indexed: 09/06/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Given the extensive evidence on improvements in cognitive inhibition immediately following exercise, and the literature indicating that cognitive and motor inhibitory functions are mediated by overlapping brain networks, the aim of this study was to assess, for the first time, the effect of moderate intensity acute aerobic exercise on multi-limb motor inhibition, as compared to cognitive inhibition. METHOD Participants were 36 healthy adults aged 40-60 years old (mean age 46.8 ± 5.7), who were randomly assigned to experimental or control groups. One-to-two weeks following baseline assessment, participants were asked to perform a three-limb (3-Limb) inhibition task and a vocal version of the Stroop before and after either acute moderate-intense aerobic exercise (experimental group) or rest (control). RESULTS Similar rates of improvement were observed among both groups from baseline to the pre-test. Conversely, a meaningful, yet non-significant trend was seen among the experimental group in their pretest to posttest improvement in both cognitive and motor tasks. In addition, exploratory analysis revealed significant group differences in favor of the experimental group among highly fit participants on the 3-Limb task. A significant correlation was indicated between the inhibition conditions, i.e., choice in the motor inhibition and color/word (incongruent) in the cognitive inhibition, especially in the improvement observed following the exercise. DISCUSSION Moderate-intensity acute aerobic exercise is a potential stimulator of both multi-limb motor inhibition and cognitive inhibition. It appears that high-fit participants benefit from exercise more than low-fit people. Additionally, performance on behavioral tasks that represent motor and cognitive inhibition is related. This observation suggests that fitness levels and acute exercise contribute to the coupling between cognitive and motor inhibition. Neuroimaging methods would allow examining brain-behavior associations of exercise-induced changes in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yael Netz
- The Academic College at Wingate, Netanya, Israel.
| | | | - Oron Levin
- Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, Department of Kinesiology, KU Leuven, Belgium; Department of Health Promotion and Rehabilitation, Lithuanian Sports University, Kaunas, Lithuania
| | - Gal Ziv
- The Academic College at Wingate, Netanya, Israel
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Tinello D, Tarvainen M, Zuber S, Kliegel M. Enhancing Inhibitory Control in Older Adults: A Biofeedback Study. Brain Sci 2023; 13:brainsci13020335. [PMID: 36831878 PMCID: PMC9954520 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13020335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2023] [Revised: 02/10/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Multidomain interventions based on bio-/neurofeedback have proven useful in improving executive functions. The present study aimed to explore the potential efficacy and feasibility of an intervention that combined Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback (HRV-BF) and Near Infrared Hemoencephalography Neurofeedback (nirHEG-NF) on inhibitory control (IC) of healthy older adults. Thirty-four participants were randomly assigned to two groups: the biofeedback group (received a 10-week combined intervention of HRV-BF and nirHEG-NF) and the active control group (received a similar protocol without real-time biofeedback). Besides cognitive outcomes, the study examined pre- and post-changes in autonomic regulation and prefrontal blood oxygenation at rest and during training. Results revealed training-induced inhibitory control gains in one of the two interference tasks, whereas no effect was found on response inhibition. After the intervention, HRV increased in participants with the lowest levels of HRV at baseline. Although older adults increased blood oxygenation during training, no significant pre- and post-changes were found in blood flow oxygenation. These findings not only suggest that HRV-BF and nirHEG-NF potentially improve performance in certain subcomponents of inhibition (i.e., interference vs. response inhibition), but it may also be beneficial for parasympathetic activity in participants with low HRV and for increasing blood flow oxygenation on prefrontal areas during training.
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Affiliation(s)
- Doriana Tinello
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Boulevard du Pont d’Arve 28, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
- LIVES, Overcoming Vulnerability, Life Course Perspective, Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research, University of Lausanne, Géopolis Building, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
- Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability (CIGEV), University of Geneva, Boulevard du Pont d’Arve 28, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +41-22-937-93796
| | - Mika Tarvainen
- Department of Technical Physics, University of Eastern Finland, 70211 Kuopio, Finland
- Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital, 70029 Kuopio, Finland
| | - Sascha Zuber
- LIVES, Overcoming Vulnerability, Life Course Perspective, Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research, University of Lausanne, Géopolis Building, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
- Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability (CIGEV), University of Geneva, Boulevard du Pont d’Arve 28, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
- Institute on Aging & Lifelong Health, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 2Y2, Canada
| | - Matthias Kliegel
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Boulevard du Pont d’Arve 28, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
- LIVES, Overcoming Vulnerability, Life Course Perspective, Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research, University of Lausanne, Géopolis Building, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
- Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability (CIGEV), University of Geneva, Boulevard du Pont d’Arve 28, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
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Idowu MI, Szameitat AJ. Executive function abilities in cognitively healthy young and older adults-A cross-sectional study. Front Aging Neurosci 2023; 15:976915. [PMID: 36845657 PMCID: PMC9945216 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.976915] [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: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 01/11/2023] [Indexed: 02/10/2023] Open
Abstract
A prominent feature of cognitive aging is the decline of executive function (EF) abilities. Numerous studies have reported that older adults perform poorer than younger adults in such tasks. In this cross-sectional study, the effect of age on four EFs, inhibition, shifting, updating, and dual-tasking, was examined in 26 young adults (mean 21.18 years) and 25 older adults (mean 71.56 years) with the utilization of a pair of tasks for each EF. The tasks employed for DT were the Psychological Refractory Period paradigm (PRP) and a modified test for everyday attention, for inhibition the Stroop and Hayling sentence completion test (HSCT), for shifting a task switching paradigm and the trail making test (TMT), and for updating the backward digit span (BDS) task and a n-back paradigm. As all participants performed all tasks, a further aim was to compare the size of the age-related cognitive decline among the four EFs. Age-related decline was observed in all four EFs in one or both of the tasks employed. The results revealed significantly poorer performance in the older adults in the response times (RTs) of the PRP effect, interference score of the Stroop, RT inhibition costs of the HSCT, RT and error-rate shifting costs of the task switching paradigm, and the error-rate updating costs of the n-back paradigm. A comparison between the rates of decline revealed numerical and statistically significant differences between the four EFs, with inhibition showing the greatest decline, followed by shifting, updating, and dual-tasking. Thus, we conclude that with age, these four EFs decline at different rates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mojitola I. Idowu
- Department of Life Sciences, Division of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience (CCN), College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, United Kingdom
| | - Andre J. Szameitat
- Department of Life Sciences, Division of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience (CCN), College of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, United Kingdom
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Foraita M, Howell T, Bennett P. Executive Functions as Measured by the Dog Executive Function Scale (DEFS) over the Lifespan of Dogs. Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:ani13030533. [PMID: 36766423 PMCID: PMC9913113 DOI: 10.3390/ani13030533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Revised: 01/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/31/2023] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Executive Functions (EFs) are needed for effortful self-regulation of behaviour and are known to change over the lifespan in humans. In domestic dogs, EFs can be assessed through behavioural rating scales, such as the Dog Executive Function Scale (DEFS). The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether the DEFS, developed initially using a sample of adult dogs, can be used in juvenile (<1 year) and senior (>8 years) dogs. Confirmatory factor analysis of a juvenile and senior dog sample led to good model fit indices, indicating that juvenile and senior dogs' EF structure follows the same functional organisation as found in the DEFS. The secondary aim was to analyse the lifespan development of EFs. Analysis of subscale scores revealed multifaceted relationships with age for four subscales. Working Memory and Attention Towards Owner showed the u-shaped curve traditionally associated with the lifespan development of EFs. Forms of inhibition showed complex associations with age, i.e., Delay Inhibition declined in aging and Motor Regulation increased during aging. Training history and Working Status influenced performance independent of age. More highly trained dogs and working dogs exhibited higher EF skills. Training history appeared more important for EF in non-working dogs than working dogs, perhaps because all working dogs receive a high level of training.
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Kassis A, Fichot MC, Horcajada MN, Horstman AMH, Duncan P, Bergonzelli G, Preitner N, Zimmermann D, Bosco N, Vidal K, Donato-Capel L. Nutritional and lifestyle management of the aging journey: A narrative review. Front Nutr 2023; 9:1087505. [PMID: 36761987 PMCID: PMC9903079 DOI: 10.3389/fnut.2022.1087505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2022] [Accepted: 12/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
With age, the physiological responses to occasional or regular stressors from a broad range of functions tend to change and adjust at a different pace and restoring these functions in the normal healthy range becomes increasingly challenging. Even if this natural decline is somehow unavoidable, opportunities exist to slow down and attenuate the impact of advancing age on major physiological processes which, when weakened, constitute the hallmarks of aging. This narrative review revisits the current knowledge related to the aging process and its impact on key metabolic functions including immune, digestive, nervous, musculoskeletal, and cardiovascular functions; and revisits insights into the important biological targets that could inspire effective strategies to promote healthy aging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amira Kassis
- Whiteboard Nutrition Science, Beaconsfield, QC, Canada,Amira Kassis,
| | | | | | | | - Peter Duncan
- Nestlé Research, Société des Produits Nestlé S.A., Lausanne, Switzerland
| | | | - Nicolas Preitner
- Nestlé Research, Société des Produits Nestlé S.A., Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Diane Zimmermann
- Nestlé Research, Société des Produits Nestlé S.A., Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Nabil Bosco
- Nestlé Research, Société des Produits Nestlé S.A., Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Karine Vidal
- Nestlé Research, Société des Produits Nestlé S.A., Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Laurence Donato-Capel
- Nestlé Research, Société des Produits Nestlé S.A., Lausanne, Switzerland,*Correspondence: Laurence Donato-Capel,
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Age-related differences in frontoparietal activation for target and distractor singletons during visual search. Atten Percept Psychophys 2023; 85:749-768. [PMID: 36627473 PMCID: PMC10066832 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-022-02640-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/12/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Age-related decline in visual search performance has been associated with different patterns of activation in frontoparietal regions using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), but whether these age-related effects represent specific influences of target and distractor processing is unclear. Therefore, we acquired event-related fMRI data from 68 healthy, community-dwelling adults ages 18-78 years, during both conjunction (T/F target among rotated Ts and Fs) and feature (T/F target among Os) search. Some displays contained a color singleton that could correspond to either the target or a distractor. A diffusion decision analysis indicated age-related increases in sensorimotor response time across all task conditions, but an age-related decrease in the rate of evidence accumulation (drift rate) was specific to conjunction search. Moreover, the color singleton facilitated search performance when occurring as a target and disrupted performance when occurring as a distractor, but only during conjunction search, and these effects were independent of age. The fMRI data indicated that decreased search efficiency for conjunction relative to feature search was evident as widespread frontoparietal activation. Activation within the left insula mediated the age-related decrease in drift rate for conjunction search, whereas this relation in the FEF and parietal cortex was significant only for individuals younger than 30 or 44 years, respectively. Finally, distractor singletons were associated with significant parietal activation, whereas target singletons were associated with significant frontoparietal deactivation, and this latter effect increased with adult age. Age-related differences in frontoparietal activation therefore reflect both the overall efficiency of search and the enhancement from salient targets.
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Grossmann JA, Aschenbrenner S, Teichmann B, Meyer P. Foreign language learning can improve response inhibition in individuals with lower baseline cognition: Results from a randomized controlled superiority trial. Front Aging Neurosci 2023; 15:1123185. [PMID: 37032827 PMCID: PMC10076596 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1123185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 03/08/2023] [Indexed: 04/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction The world's population is aging, increasing the prevalence of dementia. Recently, foreign language learning in later life has been suggested to improve cognition and thus support healthy cognitive aging. To date, however, there are only a few studies with conflicting findings. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine whether learning a foreign language can improve executive attention and executive functions in healthy older adults. Additionally, we sought to identify factors affecting cognitive change in foreign language learners, such as cognitive reserve, previous foreign knowledge and usage, and global cognition at baseline. Methods In a randomized-controlled trial, we assigned 34 monolinguals between the ages of 65 and 80 to a language learning or a waiting list control group. The participants enrolled in a Spanish course for beginners that met five days a week for 1.5 h for a total of 3 weeks. The waiting list control group received no intervention but had the opportunity to join the language training at the end of the study. All participants underwent an assessment of executive attention (primary outcome), executive functions, verbal fluency, and attention (secondary outcomes) before, immediately after the course, or after a waiting period of 3 weeks for the control group and 3 months after the course or the waiting period. Results Foreign language learning did not significantly improve primary or secondary outcomes, neither immediately nor 3 months after the course. However, moderation analyses revealed that participants with lower global baseline cognition tended to improve more on response inhibition than individuals with higher baseline cognition. This relationship was not evident in the waiting list control group. Discussion Our results suggest that studying a foreign language does not generally improve executive attention or executive functioning. Nevertheless, individuals with poorer baseline cognition may benefit cognitively from foreign language learning in response inhibition, a domain particularly affected by cognitive aging. Our findings highlight the need of focusing dementia prevention efforts on groups that are more vulnerable to cognitive decline. Additionally, more individualized approaches, including utilizing technology-assisted learning, might enable participants to practice at their performance level, increasing the likelihood of discernible cognitive gains. Clinical trial registration https://drks.de/search/en, identifier DRKS00016552.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judith Alina Grossmann
- Network Aging Research, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
- *Correspondence: Judith Alina Grossmann,
| | - Steffen Aschenbrenner
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, SRH Clinic Karlsbad-Langensteinbach, Karlsbad, Germany
| | - Birgit Teichmann
- Network Aging Research, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Patric Meyer
- Network Aging Research, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
- School of Applied Psychology, SRH University Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
- Department for General and Applied Linguistics, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
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Hu Y, Liu T, Song S, Qin K, Chan W. The specific brain activity of dual task coordination: a theoretical conflict-control model based on a qualitative and quantitative review. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2022.2143788] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yue Hu
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China
| | - Tianliang Liu
- Department of Psychology, The Southwest University, Chongqing, People’s Republic of China
| | - Sensen Song
- Department of Psychology, School of Humanities, Tongji University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
| | - Kaiyang Qin
- Social, Health & Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Wai Chan
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China
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Sabandal PR, Saldes EB, Han KA. Acetylcholine deficit causes dysfunctional inhibitory control in an aging-dependent manner. Sci Rep 2022; 12:20903. [PMID: 36463374 PMCID: PMC9719532 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-25402-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Inhibitory control is a key executive function that limits unnecessary thoughts and actions, enabling an organism to appropriately execute goal-driven behaviors. The efficiency of this inhibitory capacity declines with normal aging or in neurodegenerative dementias similar to memory or other cognitive functions. Acetylcholine signaling is crucial for executive function and also diminishes with aging. Acetylcholine's contribution to the aging- or dementia-related decline in inhibitory control, however, remains elusive. We addressed this in Drosophila using a Go/No-Go task that measures inhibition capacity. Here, we report that inhibition capacity declines with aging in wild-type flies, which is mitigated by lessening acetylcholine breakdown and augmented by reducing acetylcholine biosynthesis. We identified the mushroom body (MB) γ neurons as a chief neural site for acetylcholine's contribution to the aging-associated inhibitory control deficit. In addition, we found that the MB output neurons MBON-γ2α'1 having dendrites at the MB γ2 and α'1 lobes and axons projecting to the superior medial protocerebrum and the crepine is critical for sustained movement suppression per se. This study reveals, for the first time, the central role of acetylcholine in the aging-associated loss of inhibitory control and provides a framework for further mechanistic studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Rafael Sabandal
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA.
| | - Erick Benjamin Saldes
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA
| | - Kyung-An Han
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA.
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Juras L, Martincević M, Vranić A, Rebernjak B, Hromatko I. The brief case for everyday problems: a proposal of two brief alternate forms of the Everyday Problems Test. Eur J Ageing 2022; 19:1519-1528. [PMID: 36692781 PMCID: PMC9729654 DOI: 10.1007/s10433-022-00734-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Everyday Problems Test (EPT; Willis and Marsiske, Manual for the everyday problems test, Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania, 1993) is an 84-item performance-based measure of older adults' everyday cognitive competencies in seven everyday domains (e.g., finance, reading prescription). Its length makes it disadvantageous in the typical time-constrained testing context. Due to the potential practice effects, it is also impractical for longitudinal and intervention studies which require repetitive testing. We have addressed these issues by adapting two brief forms of EPT, with 14 items each. The psychometric evaluation of these two versions was conducted on a sample of 157 cognitively healthy older adults. Both brief forms demonstrated good internal consistency, high inter-correlation, and have shown satisfactory concurrent criterion-related validity based on their correlations with socio-demographic and cognitive variables. Results indicate that the two proposed brief forms can be a valuable tool in assessing the everyday cognitive competence of healthy older adults either as a one-time screening instrument or as a pretest-posttest difference indicator of the intervention efficacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luka Juras
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Ivana Lucica 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Marina Martincević
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Ivana Lucica 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Andrea Vranić
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Ivana Lucica 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Blaž Rebernjak
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Ivana Lucica 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Ivana Hromatko
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Ivana Lucica 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
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Begau A, Arnau S, Klatt LI, Wascher E, Getzmann S. Using visual speech at the cocktail-party: CNV evidence for early speech extraction in younger and older adults. Hear Res 2022; 426:108636. [DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2022.108636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2022] [Revised: 09/26/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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Ding LJ, Zhang SS, Peng M, Li X. Aging and distractor resistance in working memory: Does emotional valence matter? BMC Psychol 2022; 10:251. [PMID: 36333780 PMCID: PMC9636820 DOI: 10.1186/s40359-022-00953-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Emotional stimuli used as targets of working memory (WM) tasks can moderate age-related differences in WM performance, showing that aging is associated with reductions in negativity bias. This phenomenon is referred to as the positivity effect. However, there is little research on whether emotional distractors have a similar moderating effect. Moreover, the underlying neural mechanism of this effect has not been studied. In this study, we examined the behavioral and neurophysiological basis for age differences in resistance to emotional distractors within WM. Methods Older adults (n = 30, ages 60–74) and young adults (n = 35, ages 19–26) performed a 2-back task in which a digit was superimposed on a face with a happy, angry, or neutral expression as a distractor. Event-related potential (ERP) was simultaneously recorded to assess P2, N2, and later positive potential (LPP) amplitudes. Results Older adults were less accurate and slower than young adults on the WM task. Moreover, the results demonstrated a significant interaction between age and emotional valence on response accuracy, young adults' performance was worse when the distractor was neutral or positive than when it was negative, but there was no effect of the emotional valence of distractors on older adults’ WM performance. ERP analyses revealed greater P2 amplitude in older adults than young adults, regardless of the emotional valence of distractors. However, older adults and young adults did not differ on N2 or LPP amplitude, and negative distractors elicited greater N2 than positive distractors in both age groups. Conclusions The behavioral findings provided evidence of age-related reductions in negativity bias. Thus, the behavioral measures indicated a positivity effect in WM. However, the ERP results did not show this same interaction. These discrepant results raise questions about whether and to what extent older and young adults differ in controlling the effect of emotional distractors in WM. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40359-022-00953-y.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin-jie Ding
- grid.419897.a0000 0004 0369 313XKey Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China ,grid.411407.70000 0004 1760 2614School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, No. 382, XiongChu Road, Hongshan District, Wuhan, 430079 Hubei Province China
| | - Shao-shuai Zhang
- grid.419897.a0000 0004 0369 313XKey Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China ,grid.411407.70000 0004 1760 2614School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, No. 382, XiongChu Road, Hongshan District, Wuhan, 430079 Hubei Province China
| | - Ming Peng
- grid.419897.a0000 0004 0369 313XKey Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China ,grid.411407.70000 0004 1760 2614School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, No. 382, XiongChu Road, Hongshan District, Wuhan, 430079 Hubei Province China
| | - Xu Li
- grid.419897.a0000 0004 0369 313XKey Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, China ,grid.411407.70000 0004 1760 2614School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, No. 382, XiongChu Road, Hongshan District, Wuhan, 430079 Hubei Province China
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Zhukovsky P, Morein-Zamir S, Ziauddeen H, Fernandez-Egea E, Meng C, Regenthal R, Sahakian BJ, Bullmore ET, Robbins TW, Dalley JW, Ersche KD. Prefrontal Cortex Activation and Stopping Performance Underlie the Beneficial Effects of Atomoxetine on Response Inhibition in Healthy Volunteers and Those With Cocaine Use Disorder. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2022; 7:1116-1126. [PMID: 34508901 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2021.08.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Revised: 08/18/2021] [Accepted: 08/20/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Impaired response inhibition in individuals with cocaine use disorder (CUD) is hypothesized to depend on deficient noradrenergic signaling in corticostriatal networks. Remediation of noradrenergic neurotransmission with selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors such as atomoxetine may therefore have clinical utility to improve response inhibitory control in CUD. METHODS We carried out a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study with 26 participants with CUD and 28 control volunteers investigating the neural substrates of stop-signal inhibitory control. The effects of a single dose of atomoxetine (40 mg) were compared with placebo on stop-signal reaction time performance and functional network connectivity using dynamic causal modeling. RESULTS We found that atomoxetine speeded Go response times in both control participants and those with CUD. Improvements in stopping efficiency on atomoxetine were conditional on baseline (placebo) stopping performance and were directly associated with increased inferior frontal gyrus activation. Further, stopping performance, task-based brain activation, and effective connectivity were similar in the 2 groups. Dynamic causal modeling of effective connectivity of multiple prefrontal and basal ganglia regions replicated and extended previous models of network function underlying inhibitory control to CUD and control volunteers and showed subtle effects of atomoxetine on prefrontal-basal ganglia interactions. CONCLUSIONS These findings demonstrate that atomoxetine improves response inhibition in a baseline-dependent manner in control participants and in those with CUD. Our results emphasize inferior frontal cortex function as a future treatment target owing to its key role in improving response inhibition in CUD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Zhukovsky
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Sharon Morein-Zamir
- School of Psychology and Sports Science, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Hisham Ziauddeen
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Emilio Fernandez-Egea
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Chun Meng
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Ralf Regenthal
- Clinical Pharmacology Department, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany; Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Rudolf-Boehm-Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Barbara J Sahakian
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Edward T Bullmore
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom; GlaxoSmithKline, Immuno-Inflammation Therapeutic Area Unit, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
| | - Trevor W Robbins
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Jeffrey W Dalley
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Karen D Ersche
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Institut of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
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45
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Begau A, Klatt LI, Schneider D, Wascher E, Getzmann S. The role of informational content of visual speech in an audiovisual cocktail party: Evidence from cortical oscillations in young and old participants. Eur J Neurosci 2022; 56:5215-5234. [PMID: 36017762 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15811] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2022] [Revised: 08/01/2022] [Accepted: 08/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Age-related differences in the processing of audiovisual speech in a multi-talker environment were investigated analysing event-related spectral perturbations (ERSPs), focusing on theta, alpha and beta oscillations that are assumed to reflect conflict processing, multisensory integration and attentional mechanisms, respectively. Eighteen older and 21 younger healthy adults completed a two-alternative forced-choice word discrimination task, responding to audiovisual speech stimuli. In a cocktail-party scenario with two competing talkers (located at -15° and 15° azimuth), target words (/yes/or/no/) appeared at a pre-defined (attended) position, distractor words at the other position. In two audiovisual conditions, acoustic speech was combined either with informative or uninformative visual speech. While a behavioural benefit for informative visual speech occurred for both age groups, differences between audiovisual conditions in the theta and beta band were only present for older adults. A stronger increase in theta perturbations for stimuli containing uninformative visual speech could be associated with early conflict processing, while a stronger suppression in beta perturbations for informative visual speech could be associated to audiovisual integration. Compared to the younger group, the older group showed generally stronger beta perturbations. No condition differences in the alpha band were found. Overall, the findings suggest age-related differences in audiovisual speech integration in a multi-talker environment. While the behavioural benefit of informative visual speech was unaffected by age, older adults had a stronger need for cognitive control when processing conflicting audiovisual speech input. Furthermore, mechanisms of audiovisual integration are differently activated depending on the informational content of the visual information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra Begau
- Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, Germany
| | - Laura-Isabelle Klatt
- Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, Germany
| | - Daniel Schneider
- Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, Germany
| | - Edmund Wascher
- Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, Germany
| | - Stephan Getzmann
- Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, Germany
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Zhu H, Xu J, Zheng Y, Jiang G, Huang X, Tan X, Wu X. Improved response inhibition induced by attentional capture is associated with physical activity. PeerJ 2022; 10:e14083. [PMID: 36187745 PMCID: PMC9521346 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2022] [Accepted: 08/29/2022] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
The ability to stop a response promptly when a stop signal is presented is named response inhibition. It is generally accepted that the process of response inhibition requires a subject to pay attention to the stop instruction and then cancel the action. A wealth of converging evidence suggests that physical activity (PA) can promote response inhibition, but the potential contributions of attentional capture to the relationship between PA and response inhibition are currently unknown. In this study, the standard stop-signal task (SST) and two novel versions of the SST were used to solve this gap. A total of 58 college students were divided into a higher PA group and a lower PA group, respectively. In Experiment 1, the classical SST determined that the participants in the higher PA group displayed a significantly faster stop-signal reaction time (SSRT) than those in the lower PA group. Experiment 2 separated the attentional capture in the SST and revealed that the participants in the higher PA group could detect the signal faster than those in the lower PA group. Experiment 3 further added a stop signal to Experiment 2 and demonstrated that the participants in the higher PA group could more effectively deploy attentional resources to complete the task. Overall, these findings indicate that PA is positively associated with response inhibition and that the positive relationship is associated with effective allocation of attentional resources for faster attentional capture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao Zhu
- School of Psychology, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
| | - Jiuyang Xu
- Tongda College, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Yangzhou, China
| | - Yue Zheng
- School of Physical Education, Jiangsu Vocational and Technical College of Economics and Trade, Nanjing, China
| | - Guiping Jiang
- School of Physical Education and Training, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, Shanghai, China,School of Physical Education, Harbin University, Harbin, China
| | - Xinyi Huang
- School of Psychology, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
| | - Xiaohuan Tan
- School of Physical Education and Training, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, Shanghai, China
| | - Xueping Wu
- School of Psychology, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China
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Sauvé SA, Marozeau J, Rich Zendel B. The effects of aging and musicianship on the use of auditory streaming cues. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0274631. [PMID: 36137151 PMCID: PMC9498935 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274631] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2022] [Accepted: 08/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Auditory stream segregation, or separating sounds into their respective sources and tracking them over time, is a fundamental auditory ability. Previous research has separately explored the impacts of aging and musicianship on the ability to separate and follow auditory streams. The current study evaluated the simultaneous effects of age and musicianship on auditory streaming induced by three physical features: intensity, spectral envelope and temporal envelope. In the first study, older and younger musicians and non-musicians with normal hearing identified deviants in a four-note melody interleaved with distractors that were more or less similar to the melody in terms of intensity, spectral envelope and temporal envelope. In the second study, older and younger musicians and non-musicians participated in a dissimilarity rating paradigm with pairs of melodies that differed along the same three features. Results suggested that auditory streaming skills are maintained in older adults but that older adults rely on intensity more than younger adults while musicianship is associated with increased sensitivity to spectral and temporal envelope, acoustic features that are typically less effective for stream segregation, particularly in older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah A. Sauvé
- Division of Community Health and Humanities, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
- * E-mail:
| | - Jeremy Marozeau
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Benjamin Rich Zendel
- Division of Community Health and Humanities, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
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Rattanavichit Y, Chaikeeree N, Boonsinsukh R, Kitiyanant K. The age differences and effect of mild cognitive impairment on perceptual-motor and executive functions. Front Psychol 2022; 13:906898. [PMID: 35967690 PMCID: PMC9366843 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.906898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2022] [Accepted: 06/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
It is unclear whether the decline in executive function (EF) and perceptual-motor function (PMF) found in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the result of a normal aging process or due to MCI. This study aimed to determine age-related and MCI-related cognitive impairments of the EF and PMF. The EF and PMF were investigated across four groups of 240 participants, 60 in each group, including early adult, middle adult, older adult, and older adult with probable MCI. The EF, working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility were evaluated using digit span backward tasks, the Stroop color-word test, and the modified switching verbal fluency test, respectively. The PMF, visual perception, visuoconstructional reasoning, and perceptual-motor coordination were evaluated using the clock reading test, stick design test, and stick catching test, respectively. Group differences were found for all subdomains of EF and PMF (p < 0.05), except for perceptual-motor coordination, indicating that this subdomain could be maintained in older adults and was not affected by MCI. For the age difference, working memory, cognitive flexibility, visual perception, and visuoconstructional reasoning remained stable across middle adults and started to decline in older adults, while cognitive inhibition began to decrease in middle adults and it further declined in older adults. To control the confounding effect of education level, the results showed that only cognitive flexibility was further decreased in older adults with probable MCI compared to those without MCI (p < 0.05). In conclusion, cognitive inhibition decreased earlier in middle adults, whereas EF and PMF started to decline in older adults. Cognitive flexibility was the only MCI-sensitive cognitive function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yupaporn Rattanavichit
- Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Physical Therapy, Srinakharinwirot University, Nakhon Nayok, Thailand
| | - Nithinun Chaikeeree
- Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Physical Therapy, Srinakharinwirot University, Nakhon Nayok, Thailand
| | - Rumpa Boonsinsukh
- Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Physical Therapy, Srinakharinwirot University, Nakhon Nayok, Thailand
| | - Kasima Kitiyanant
- Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Physical Therapy, Srinakharinwirot University, Nakhon Nayok, Thailand
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Li Y, Cheng JX, Yu J. Episodic memory updating among older adults: moderating role of prior knowledge. Memory 2022; 30:1240-1247. [PMID: 35834404 DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2022.2099901] [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: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
Memory updating is an adaptive function that requires people's registry of changes of episodes. However, the research on the role of prior knowledge on memory updating among older adults is scant. We instructed young and older adults to learn two sets of pairs with overlapping scene (A) on Day 1 (A-B) and Day 2 (A-C) and tested the competing memories on Day 3. We further manipulated the schema-congruency between item (B/C) and scene (A). Young adults performed comparatively well in the A-B and A-C memory tests, and showed no difference under different congruency conditions. However, memory updating among older adults was moderated by prior knowledge, with better memory performance in A-C test relative to A-B test when the to-be-updated item C was schema-congruent, however, with poorer memory performance in the A-C test when the to-be-updated item is schema-incongruent. This study advances the understanding that prior knowledge significantly contributes to memory updating among older adults. They would experience retroactive interference when the to-be-updated memories were consistent with their prior knowledge, yet proactive interference when the to-be-updated memories were inconsistent with their prior knowledge. Meanwhile, prior knowledge among young adults does not affect memory updating, given that their memory patterns are consistent across congruency conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Li
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
| | - Jing-Xuan Cheng
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China
| | - Jing Yu
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.,Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China
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Makmee P, Wongupparaj P. Virtual Reality-based Cognitive Intervention for Enhancing Executive Functions in Community-dwelling Older Adults. INTERVENCION PSICOSOCIAL 2022; 31:133-144. [PMID: 37361011 PMCID: PMC10268555 DOI: 10.5093/pi2022a10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 04/22/2022] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
With the rapid growth of the older population globally, it is anticipated that age-related cognitive decline in the prodromal phase and more severe pathological decline will increase. Moreover, currently, no effective treatment options for the disease exist. Thus, early and timely prevention actions are promising and prior strategies to preserve cognitive functions by preventing symptomatology from increasing the age-related deterioration of the functions in healthy older adults. This study aims to develop the virtual reality-based cognitive intervention for enhancing executive functions (EFs) and examine the EFs after training with the virtual reality-based cognitive intervention in community-dwelling older adults. Following inclusion/exclusion criteria, 60 community-dwelling older adults aged 60-69 years were involved in the study and randomly divided into passive control and experimental groups. Eight 60 min virtual reality-based cognitive intervention sessions were held twice a week and lasted for 1 month. The EFs (i.e., inhibition, updating, and shifting) of the participants were assessed by using standardized computerized tasks, i.e., Go/NoGo, forward and backward digit span, and Berg's card sorting tasks. Additionally, a repeated-measure ANCOVA and effect sizes were applied to investigate the effects of the developed intervention. The virtual reality-based intervention significantly improved the EFs of older adults in the experimental group. Specifically, the magnitudes of enhancement were observed for inhibitory as indexed by the response time, F(1) = 6.95, p < .05, ηp2 = .11, updating as represented by the memory span, F(1) = 12.09, p < .01, ηp2 = .18, and the response time, F(1) = 4.46, p = .04, ηp2 = .07, and shifting abilities as indexed by the percentage of correct responses, F(1) = 5.30, p = .03, ηp2 = .09, respectively. The results indicated that the simultaneous combined cognitive-motor control as embedded in the virtual-based intervention is safe and effective in enhancing EFs in older adults without cognitive impairment. Nevertheless, further studies are required to investigate the benefits of these enhancements to motor functions and emotional aspects relating to daily living and the well-being of older populations in communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pattrawadee Makmee
- Burapha UniversityCollege of Research Methodology and Cognitive ScienceCognitive Science and Innovation Research UnitThailandCognitive Science and Innovation Research Unit, College of Research Methodology and Cognitive Science, Burapha University, Thailand
| | - Peera Wongupparaj
- Burapha UniversityCollege of Research Methodology and Cognitive ScienceCognitive Science and Innovation Research UnitThailandCognitive Science and Innovation Research Unit, College of Research Methodology and Cognitive Science, Burapha University, Thailand
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