Cardiorespiratory rhythm-contingent trace eyeblink conditioning in elderly adults

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Aging Research

Background:

• Learning is influenced by attention to stimuli.
• Cardiorespiratory rhythm phases may impact learning efficiency.
• Previous research indicated expiration-diastole (EXP-DIA) benefits trace eyeblink conditioning (TEBC) in young adults.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if EXP-DIA phase benefits TEBC in healthy elderly adults (>70 yr).
• To compare learning outcomes between EXP-DIA and inspiration-systole (INS-SYS) training groups.
• To assess if cardiorespiratory phase training affects the proportion of elderly learners.

Main Methods:

• Healthy elderly adults (n=50) were trained in TEBC, with stimuli presented during either INS-SYS or EXP-DIA phases.
• Learned responses were defined as conditioned responses (CRs) preceding an unconditioned stimulus.
• Electroencephalogram (EEG) measured brain responses; questionnaires assessed memory and awareness.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in brain responses, CR acquisition, or awareness between INS-SYS and EXP-DIA groups.
• Among participants who learned, those trained at EXP-DIA (n=11) showed more CRs than those trained at INS-SYS (n=13).
• The proportion of participants classified as learners did not differ between the two training groups.

Conclusions:

• Training at a specific cardiorespiratory phase (EXP-DIA vs. INS-SYS) did not increase the likelihood of elderly individuals learning TEBC.
• For elderly individuals who successfully learned TEBC, performance (number of CRs) was enhanced when trained during the EXP-DIA phase.
• Findings suggest potential for performance optimization in elderly learners, but not for increasing learning acquisition rates via cardiorespiratory phase manipulation.