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Further considerations regarding inhibitory processes, working memory, and cognitive aging.

J D Grant1, D Dagenbach

  • 1Wake Forest University, USA.

The American Journal of Psychology
|April 1, 2000
PubMed
Summary

Older adults maintain intact inhibitory processing, evidenced by negative priming, despite declines in working memory and discourse processing. This suggests age-related cognitive declines are not solely due to impaired inhibitory functions.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Gerontology

Background:

  • Cognitive aging research investigates age-related changes in various cognitive functions.
  • Inhibitory processing, working memory, and discourse processing are key areas of cognitive function.
  • Previous research on inhibitory processing in older adults has yielded inconsistent findings.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the relationship between inhibitory processing, working memory, and discourse processing in the context of cognitive aging.
  • To determine if age-related declines in working memory and discourse processing are linked to deficits in inhibitory processing.
  • To contribute to theories of cognitive aging by clarifying the role of inhibitory functions.

Main Methods:

  • Employed a letter-naming task to measure identity negative priming as an index of inhibitory processing.

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  • Assessed working memory capacity.
  • Evaluated memory performance in a discourse processing task.
  • Compared performance between older and younger adult groups.

    • Main Results:

    • Older adults demonstrated intact inhibitory processing, as indicated by equivalent negative priming effects compared to younger adults.
    • Older adults exhibited significantly diminished working memory span.
    • Older adults showed impaired memory performance in the discourse processing task.
    • The findings indicate that intact negative priming co-occurred with deficits in other cognitive domains in older adults.

    Conclusions:

    • Inhibitory processing, as measured by negative priming, appears to be preserved in older adulthood.
    • Age-related declines in working memory and discourse processing are unlikely to stem from impairments in the specific inhibitory processes measured by negative priming.
    • These results challenge theories that attribute widespread cognitive aging deficits to a general decline in inhibitory control.