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The effects of age and task context on Stroop task performance.

Sharon A Mutter1, Jennifer C Naylor, Emily R Patterson

  • 1Department of Psychology, Western Kentucky University, 1 Big Red Way, Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA. sharon.mutter@wku.edu

Memory & Cognition
|September 15, 2005
PubMed
Summary

Older adults struggle with updating task context in the Stroop task, especially with uncertainty. This age-related decline in cognitive control stems from difficulty suppressing irrelevant word information.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience of Aging
  • Human Factors

Background:

  • The Stroop task is a classic measure of selective attention and cognitive control.
  • Aging is associated with changes in cognitive functions, including executive functions like inhibition and updating.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of age and task context on Stroop task performance.
  • To examine how older adults manage task demands and representations under varying levels of stimulus uncertainty.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized three experiments employing the Stroop task.
  • Measured performance using error scores, response latencies, and process dissociation estimates.
  • Manipulated task context and stimulus uncertainty to assess cognitive control mechanisms.

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Main Results:

  • Older adults could evaluate task demands but struggled to maintain and update task representations with high uncertainty.
  • No age-related decline was observed in modulating print color information.
  • Older adults showed a consistent deficit in controlling the activation of conflicting word information.

Conclusions:

  • Age differences in Stroop performance are exacerbated by transient failures in maintaining task context.
  • The primary cause of age-related Stroop deficits is a decline in suppressing irrelevant lexical information.
  • Cognitive control, specifically inhibitory processes, is significantly impacted by aging.