Preserved suppression of salient irrelevant stimuli during visual search in Age-Associated Memory Impairment
Previous studies have suggested that older adults with age-associated memory impairment (AAMI) may show a significant decline in attentional resource capacity and inhibitory processes in addition to memory impairment. In the present paper, the potential attentional capture by task-irrelevant stimuli...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2016-01-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02033/full |
| _version_ | 1818195499316936704 |
|---|---|
| author | Laura eLorenzo-López Ana eMaseda Ana eBuján Carmen ede Labra Elena eAmenedo José Carlos Millán |
| author_facet | Laura eLorenzo-López Ana eMaseda Ana eBuján Carmen ede Labra Elena eAmenedo José Carlos Millán |
| author_sort | Laura eLorenzo-López |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Previous studies have suggested that older adults with age-associated memory impairment (AAMI) may show a significant decline in attentional resource capacity and inhibitory processes in addition to memory impairment. In the present paper, the potential attentional capture by task-irrelevant stimuli was examined in older adults with AAMI compared to healthy older adults using scalp-recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs). ERPs were recorded during the execution of a visual search task, in which the participants had to detect the presence of a target stimulus that differed from distractors by orientation. To explore the automatic attentional capture phenomenon, an irrelevant distractor stimulus defined by a different feature (color) was also presented without previous knowledge of the participants. A consistent N2pc, an electrophysiological indicator of attentional deployment, was present for target stimuli but not for task-irrelevant color stimuli, suggesting that these irrelevant distractors did not attract attention in AAMI older adults. Furthermore, the N2pc for targets was significantly delayed in AAMI patients compared to healthy older controls. Together, these findings suggest a specific impairment of the attentional selection process of relevant target stimuli in these individuals and indicate that the mechanism of top-down suppression of entirely task-irrelevant stimuli is preserved, at least when the target and the irrelevant stimuli are perceptually very different. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T01:19:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c136e9fdde1446b7bba3a19434db29b9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T01:19:09Z |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-c136e9fdde1446b7bba3a19434db29b92022-12-22T00:43:16ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782016-01-01610.3389/fpsyg.2015.02033173466Preserved suppression of salient irrelevant stimuli during visual search in Age-Associated Memory ImpairmentLaura eLorenzo-López0Ana eMaseda1Ana eBuján2Carmen ede Labra3Elena eAmenedo4José Carlos Millán5Universidade da CoruñaUniversidade da CoruñaUniversidade da CoruñaProvincial Association of Pensioners and Retired People (UDP) from A CoruñaUniversity of Santiago de CompostelaUniversidade da CoruñaPrevious studies have suggested that older adults with age-associated memory impairment (AAMI) may show a significant decline in attentional resource capacity and inhibitory processes in addition to memory impairment. In the present paper, the potential attentional capture by task-irrelevant stimuli was examined in older adults with AAMI compared to healthy older adults using scalp-recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs). ERPs were recorded during the execution of a visual search task, in which the participants had to detect the presence of a target stimulus that differed from distractors by orientation. To explore the automatic attentional capture phenomenon, an irrelevant distractor stimulus defined by a different feature (color) was also presented without previous knowledge of the participants. A consistent N2pc, an electrophysiological indicator of attentional deployment, was present for target stimuli but not for task-irrelevant color stimuli, suggesting that these irrelevant distractors did not attract attention in AAMI older adults. Furthermore, the N2pc for targets was significantly delayed in AAMI patients compared to healthy older controls. Together, these findings suggest a specific impairment of the attentional selection process of relevant target stimuli in these individuals and indicate that the mechanism of top-down suppression of entirely task-irrelevant stimuli is preserved, at least when the target and the irrelevant stimuli are perceptually very different.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02033/fullvisual searchN2pcERPsAAMIautomatic attentional capture |
| spellingShingle | Laura eLorenzo-López Ana eMaseda Ana eBuján Carmen ede Labra Elena eAmenedo José Carlos Millán Preserved suppression of salient irrelevant stimuli during visual search in Age-Associated Memory Impairment Frontiers in Psychology visual search N2pc ERPs AAMI automatic attentional capture |
| title | Preserved suppression of salient irrelevant stimuli during visual search in Age-Associated Memory Impairment |
| title_full | Preserved suppression of salient irrelevant stimuli during visual search in Age-Associated Memory Impairment |
| title_fullStr | Preserved suppression of salient irrelevant stimuli during visual search in Age-Associated Memory Impairment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Preserved suppression of salient irrelevant stimuli during visual search in Age-Associated Memory Impairment |
| title_short | Preserved suppression of salient irrelevant stimuli during visual search in Age-Associated Memory Impairment |
| title_sort | preserved suppression of salient irrelevant stimuli during visual search in age associated memory impairment |
| topic | visual search N2pc ERPs AAMI automatic attentional capture |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02033/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lauraelorenzolopez preservedsuppressionofsalientirrelevantstimuliduringvisualsearchinageassociatedmemoryimpairment AT anaemaseda preservedsuppressionofsalientirrelevantstimuliduringvisualsearchinageassociatedmemoryimpairment AT anaebujan preservedsuppressionofsalientirrelevantstimuliduringvisualsearchinageassociatedmemoryimpairment AT carmenedelabra preservedsuppressionofsalientirrelevantstimuliduringvisualsearchinageassociatedmemoryimpairment AT elenaeamenedo preservedsuppressionofsalientirrelevantstimuliduringvisualsearchinageassociatedmemoryimpairment AT josecarlosmillan preservedsuppressionofsalientirrelevantstimuliduringvisualsearchinageassociatedmemoryimpairment |