Aging and task design shape the relationship between response time variability and emotional response inhibition

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Human Aging Research

Background:

• Intra-individual variability (IIV) reflects within-person fluctuations in behavioral responses.
• Aging and cognitive demands are known factors influencing IIV.
• Age-related differences in cognitive control and emotion processing necessitate examining IIV in executive functioning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of aging on response time IIV during executive functioning tasks.
• To evaluate how different emotional response inhibition task designs influence IIV in older and younger adults.
• To determine if IIV predicts inhibitory control across various task designs and age groups.

Main Methods:

• Older and younger adults (N=237) completed one of three stop-signal tasks with emotional stimuli (happy, fearful, neutral faces).
• A separate group (N=80) completed a go/no-go task with similar emotional stimuli.
• Intra-individual variability (IIV) and inhibitory control were measured.

Main Results:

• Older adults exhibited lower IIV (more consistent responses) than younger adults in the stop-signal task, but not the go/no-go task.
• Lower IIV was associated with more efficient inhibition of fear responses in the stop-signal task.
• The predictive relationship between IIV and inhibition was contingent on task design, specifically when attention to emotion was relevant.

Conclusions:

• Aging impacts intra-individual variability in response times differently based on executive functioning task design.
• Task design significantly modulates the relationship between IIV and emotional response inhibition in both younger and older adults.
• Findings clarify the role of IIV in cognitive aging and emotional regulation.