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Age differences in target detection and interference resolution in working memory: an event-related potential study.

William J Tays¹, Jane Dywan, Karen J Mathewson

¹Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

|May 7, 2008

Summary

Cognitive aging impairs attentional control. Older adults struggle with target selection and suppressing distractors, unlike younger adults, impacting working memory performance.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Neuroscience of Aging

Background:

Attentional control decline is a key feature of cognitive aging.
Working memory tasks are sensitive to age-related cognitive changes.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying attentional control differences in aging.
To examine the time course of interference resolution in older and younger adults.

Main Methods:

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to measure neural activity.
A working memory task assessed behavioral performance and neural responses to targets and distractors.
Dipole source analyses identified brain regions involved in interference resolution.

Main Results:

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Younger adults exhibited early target selection (P3a) and later suppression of distractors (medial frontal negativity).

Older adults lacked the early P3a and medial frontal negativity, showing a frontal positivity linked to poorer performance.

Neural activity in younger adults showed coactivation of inferior frontal and anterior cingulate cortex.

Conclusions:

Aging disrupts the dynamic interplay of early target selection and late distractor suppression.
Deficits in attentional control contribute to cognitive aging.
Specific neural patterns differentiate attentional control in younger versus older adults.