The effect of aging on the P3 component in different auditory paradigms

Seventy-two healthy volunteers aged 24-75 years were submitted to different auditory "oddball" ERP (Event Related Potential) paradigms which included an intensity discrimination and a right/left discrimination task. In both conditions, a late positive component (P3) of the vertex potential appeared. However its latency was about 30 msec greater and its amplitude was smaller in the intensity discrimination paradigm. Moreover, P3 latency increased with age in a strictly linear fashion in the intensity discrimination paradigm, whereas in the right/left discrimination paradigm an increase of latency with age was confined to the older age-groups, which is expressed by a quadratic latency/age function. A relation was found between the subjective feeling of difficulty in performing the tasks and P3 latency in the different paradigms.