ERP measures indicate both attention and working memory encoding decrements in aging

We investigated age‐related attention and encoding deficits, and their possible interaction, by analyzing visual event‐related potentials from young and older adults during a modified Sternberg word recognition task. Young adults performed more accurately, albeit not significantly so. P1 latency was...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychophysiology Vol. 48; no. 5; pp. 601 - 611
Main Authors: Finnigan, Simon, O'Connell, Redmond G., Cummins, Tarrant D. R., Broughton, Megan, Robertson, Ian H.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01.05.2011
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Subjects:
Adult
Age
Aged
Aging
Aging - physiology
Analysis of Variance
Attention
Attention - physiology
Auditory evoked potentials
Cerebral Cortex - physiology
Cognitive ability
Cognitive psychology
Data processing
Electroencephalography
Event-related potentials
Evoked Potentials, Visual - physiology
Humans
Language
Memory
Memory, Short-Term - physiology
Middle Aged
Neuropsychological Tests
Pattern recognition
Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology
Photic Stimulation
Semantics
Short term memory
ISSN:0048-5772, 1469-8986, 1469-8986, 1540-5958
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:We investigated age‐related attention and encoding deficits, and their possible interaction, by analyzing visual event‐related potentials from young and older adults during a modified Sternberg word recognition task. Young adults performed more accurately, albeit not significantly so. P1 latency was shorter in young adults and correlated negatively with task accuracy (with age partialed out). These data support proposals that P1 indexes attentional suppression, which is less efficient in older adults. N1 was larger in older adults but did not correlate with accuracy. Young adults had higher P2 amplitudes and P2 latency correlated with accuracy (age partialed), supporting the view that semantic operations during encoding are affected by aging. These data indicate that attention (P1) and encoding (P2) decrements may contribute to memory or related cognitive decrements in aging, and P1 and P2 latency measures from appropriate paradigms may be salient ERP markers of these decrements.
Bibliography:ark:/67375/WNG-S3LXP4QS-9
ArticleID:PSYP1128
istex:B9AE53526DD36586B65A733C369D799DD1B97791
We thank three reviewers and the associate editor for constructive feedback.
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ISSN:0048-5772
1469-8986
1469-8986
1540-5958
DOI:10.1111/j.1469-8986.2010.01128.x