Effects of task complexity in young and old adults: reaction time and P300 latency are not always dissociated

Twelve young and 11 elderly men (mean ages 21.1 and 70.1) performed a choice-reaction time (RT) task in which stimulus degradation and stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility were manipulated. The extant literature has suggested that the effects of age on RT are usually augmented (multiplicative) in more difficult task conditions, but also that the effects of age on the latency of the P300 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) are constant (additive). The results indicated that the effects of age on RT were enhanced in more difficult conditions, whether the difficulty consisted of stimulus degradation or S-R incompatibility. However, the effects of age on P300 latency were enlarged as the stimuli were degraded, but not if the S-R mapping was incompatible. Thus, it appears that task content determines if effects of age on P300 latency are additive or multiplicative. A simple model is proposed that produces the obtained pattern of effects.