Increased Early Processing of Task-Irrelevant Auditory Stimuli in Older Adults.
The inhibitory deficit hypothesis of cognitive aging posits that older adults' inability to adequately suppress processing of irrelevant information is a major source of cognitive decline. Prior research has demonstrated that in response to task-irrelevant auditory stimuli there is an age-assoc...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2016-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5091907?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1828340243545194496 |
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| author | Erich S Tusch Brittany R Alperin Phillip J Holcomb Kirk R Daffner |
| author_facet | Erich S Tusch Brittany R Alperin Phillip J Holcomb Kirk R Daffner |
| author_sort | Erich S Tusch |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The inhibitory deficit hypothesis of cognitive aging posits that older adults' inability to adequately suppress processing of irrelevant information is a major source of cognitive decline. Prior research has demonstrated that in response to task-irrelevant auditory stimuli there is an age-associated increase in the amplitude of the N1 wave, an ERP marker of early perceptual processing. Here, we tested predictions derived from the inhibitory deficit hypothesis that the age-related increase in N1 would be 1) observed under an auditory-ignore, but not auditory-attend condition, 2) attenuated in individuals with high executive capacity (EC), and 3) augmented by increasing cognitive load of the primary visual task. ERPs were measured in 114 well-matched young, middle-aged, young-old, and old-old adults, designated as having high or average EC based on neuropsychological testing. Under the auditory-ignore (visual-attend) task, participants ignored auditory stimuli and responded to rare target letters under low and high load. Under the auditory-attend task, participants ignored visual stimuli and responded to rare target tones. Results confirmed an age-associated increase in N1 amplitude to auditory stimuli under the auditory-ignore but not auditory-attend task. Contrary to predictions, EC did not modulate the N1 response. The load effect was the opposite of expectation: the N1 to task-irrelevant auditory events was smaller under high load. Finally, older adults did not simply fail to suppress the N1 to auditory stimuli in the task-irrelevant modality; they generated a larger response than to identical stimuli in the task-relevant modality. In summary, several of the study's findings do not fit the inhibitory-deficit hypothesis of cognitive aging, which may need to be refined or supplemented by alternative accounts. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T22:52:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6cbdd03172d74f4bbe5731a3d26187e7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T22:52:59Z |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-6cbdd03172d74f4bbe5731a3d26187e72022-12-22T02:26:06ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-011111e016564510.1371/journal.pone.0165645Increased Early Processing of Task-Irrelevant Auditory Stimuli in Older Adults.Erich S TuschBrittany R AlperinPhillip J HolcombKirk R DaffnerThe inhibitory deficit hypothesis of cognitive aging posits that older adults' inability to adequately suppress processing of irrelevant information is a major source of cognitive decline. Prior research has demonstrated that in response to task-irrelevant auditory stimuli there is an age-associated increase in the amplitude of the N1 wave, an ERP marker of early perceptual processing. Here, we tested predictions derived from the inhibitory deficit hypothesis that the age-related increase in N1 would be 1) observed under an auditory-ignore, but not auditory-attend condition, 2) attenuated in individuals with high executive capacity (EC), and 3) augmented by increasing cognitive load of the primary visual task. ERPs were measured in 114 well-matched young, middle-aged, young-old, and old-old adults, designated as having high or average EC based on neuropsychological testing. Under the auditory-ignore (visual-attend) task, participants ignored auditory stimuli and responded to rare target letters under low and high load. Under the auditory-attend task, participants ignored visual stimuli and responded to rare target tones. Results confirmed an age-associated increase in N1 amplitude to auditory stimuli under the auditory-ignore but not auditory-attend task. Contrary to predictions, EC did not modulate the N1 response. The load effect was the opposite of expectation: the N1 to task-irrelevant auditory events was smaller under high load. Finally, older adults did not simply fail to suppress the N1 to auditory stimuli in the task-irrelevant modality; they generated a larger response than to identical stimuli in the task-relevant modality. In summary, several of the study's findings do not fit the inhibitory-deficit hypothesis of cognitive aging, which may need to be refined or supplemented by alternative accounts.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5091907?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Erich S Tusch Brittany R Alperin Phillip J Holcomb Kirk R Daffner Increased Early Processing of Task-Irrelevant Auditory Stimuli in Older Adults. PLoS ONE |
| title | Increased Early Processing of Task-Irrelevant Auditory Stimuli in Older Adults. |
| title_full | Increased Early Processing of Task-Irrelevant Auditory Stimuli in Older Adults. |
| title_fullStr | Increased Early Processing of Task-Irrelevant Auditory Stimuli in Older Adults. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increased Early Processing of Task-Irrelevant Auditory Stimuli in Older Adults. |
| title_short | Increased Early Processing of Task-Irrelevant Auditory Stimuli in Older Adults. |
| title_sort | increased early processing of task irrelevant auditory stimuli in older adults |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5091907?pdf=render |
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