The effects of aging on sustained attention ability: an ERP study

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of aging on inhibitory processes and attentional resources in a long-lasting Go/No-Go sustained attention task using the event-related potential (ERP) technique. In line with recent studies, our results showed that older adults were able to maintain sustained attention performance throughout the duration of the task, whereas younger subjects exhibited a vigilance decrement. Regarding ERP results, older adults had larger P2 and Go-P3 amplitudes, components related to resource allocation, suggesting that the older subjects invested more resources in task performance. In addition, the No-Go P3 component, related to inhibitory processes, was more frontally distributed in older than in younger participants. This age-related frontal scalp overrecruitment may have played a compensatory role, enabling older subjects to perform better than younger subjects throughout the duration of the task.