Aging and Individual Variation in Interhemispheric Collaboration and Hemispheric Asymmetry

Thirty younger (Mean Age = 19.9 years) and 20 older adults (Mean Age = 74.7 years) performed Physical and Name Identity letter-matching tasks (matches were either within or between hemispheres) to study age-related changes in 1) the efficiency with which the two hemispheres interact with each other and 2) hemispheric asymmetry. In order to determine whether age-related effects were associated with differences in cognitive resources, the same individuals completed a set of memory span tasks. Performance on the letter-matching tasks indicated that the costs of interhemispheric collaboration were greater for older than for younger participants. However, within the older group, the advantage of spreading processing across both hemispheres increased as memory span decreased, suggesting that older individuals who are challenged by cognitive complexity are more likely to show increased benefits from between-hemisphere processing than individuals who are not so challenged. There was also an overall left visual field/right hemisphere advantage for the younger but not for the older group, suggesting greater age-related declines in right- than left-hemisphere function.