Aging and electrocortical response to error feedback during a spatial learning task

Event-related potentials were collected as older and younger adults responded to error feedback in an adaptation of the Groton Maze Learning Test, an age-sensitive measure of spatial learning and executive skills expected to maximally involve anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Older adults made more errors and produced smaller feedback-related negativities (FRNs) than young controls. LORETA source localization revealed that, for young adults, neural activation associated with the FRN was focused in ACC and was stronger to negative feedback. Older adults responded with less intense and less differentiated ACC activation, but FRN amplitudes did relate to error rate for the most difficult mazes. The feedback P3 was sensitive to negative feedback but played no role in the prediction of error for either group. These data reflect the selective age-related decline of ACC response but also its continued contribution to performance monitoring in aging.