How aging shapes attention: Separating cognitive control from cognitive decline

Attention is not a singular cognitive process, but a collection of distinct yet interactive mechanisms that evolve across the lifespan. Using data from the Combined Attention Systems Test, we examine how different attention networks-alerting, orienting, and executive control-develop uniquely as we age and interact in ways that shape cognitive performance. First, we demonstrate that these networks change in dissociable ways with age, challenging the notion of a uniform attentional decline, revealing instead that different networks follow distinct trajectories. Second, we provide evidence that spatial orienting (both exogenous and endogenous) modulates executive control, reducing cognitive conflict in flanker tasks. Third, we highlight the importance of measurement assumptions in aging research, showing that executive control appears to decline when measured by reaction time alone, but remains stable or even improves when accuracy is considered. These findings underscore the need to disentangle cohort-related strategic differences (e.g., older adults favouring accuracy over speed) from intrinsic neurocognitive aging effects (e.g., general slowing and network desynchronization). By integrating theoretical perspectives with empirical data, this work advances our understanding of attention as a dynamic, multicomponent system that adapts over the lifespan. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).