Flanker interference at both stimulus and response levels decreases with age

Area of Science:

• Cognitive psychology
• Neuroscience
• Developmental psychology

Background:

• Color identification performance is impaired by distractors.
• Interference effects may stem from competing stimuli, responses, or both.
• Age-related differences in interference effects are debated due to varied study designs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how stimulus and response interference are resolved differently across age groups.
• To examine the influence of trial congruency on interference effects.
• To determine if age impacts the resolution of cognitive interference.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a colored Eriksen flanker task with manipulated congruent and incongruent trials.
• Included 92 children (6-14 years), 25 young adults (20-43 years), and 33 older adults (60-84 years).
• Employed inverse efficiency scores to account for speed-accuracy trade-offs and absolute interference effects to assess age relationships.

Main Results:

• Response interference was similar across stimulus- and response-balanced conditions.
• Both stimulus and response interference significantly affected performance across all age groups.
• The magnitude of interference effects decreased progressively with increasing age.

Conclusions:

• Cognitive interference arises from both stimulus and response competition, regardless of trial balance.
• Interference effects diminish with age, indicating developmental changes in cognitive control mechanisms.
• Findings challenge previous conclusions and highlight the need for lifespan-appropriate cognitive control measures.