Neuropsychological deficits in adults age 60 and above with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 90-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.B. Thorell ◽  
Y. Holst ◽  
H. Chistiansen ◽  
J.J.S. Kooij ◽  
D. Bijlenga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Neuropsychological Deficits ◽  
Delay Aversion ◽  
Speed Of Processing ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Memory Decline ◽  
Memory Inhibition

AbstractObjective:Neuropsychological deficits are of major importance in ADHD, yet no previous studies have assessed clinically referred samples of older adults. The authors compared older adults with ADHD (60–75 years) with both younger adults with ADHD (18–45 years) and older healthy controls with regard to various neuropsychological deficits.Methods:Well-established tests were used to investigate working memory, inhibition, switching, planning, fluency, and speed of processing. Self-ratings of executive functioning and delay-related behaviors were also included. Both variable-oriented and person-oriented analyses were conducted.Results:Older adults with ADHD differed from controls with regard to working memory, inhibition, switching, and delay-related behaviors. In comparison to younger adults with ADHD, they performed at a similar level with regard to working memory and planning, but significantly better with regard to inhibition, switching, fluency, speed of processing, and delay aversion. Despite several significant group differences relative to controls, person-oriented analyses demonstrated that a majority of older adults with ADHD performed within the average range on each test and 20% showed no clear deficit within any neuropsychological domain.Conclusions:The results are in line with models of heterogeneity that have identified different neuropsychological subtypes in ADHD as well as a subgroup of patients without any clear neuropsychological deficits. For older adults with ADHD, it will be important to assess their functioning across time as normal aging is related to memory decline and these patients could therefore end up with severe deficits as they grow older, which in turn could have serious negative effects on daily life functioning.

Semantic integration declines independently of working memory in aging

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 1481-1494
Author(s):  
Zude Zhu ◽  
Suiping Wang ◽  
Nannan Xu ◽  
Mengya Li ◽  
Yiming Yang
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Semantic Integration ◽  
N400 Effect ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Memory Decline ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractSemantic integration and working memory both decline with age. However, it remains unclear whether the semantic integration decline is independent of working memory decline or whether it can be solely explained by the latter factor. In this event-related potentials experiment, 43 younger adults and 43 cognitively healthy older adults read semantically congruent and incongruent sentences. After controlling for working memory, behavioral accuracy was significantly lower in the older adults than in the younger adults. In addition, the semantic integration related N400 effect (incongruent vs. congruent) for correct trials was apparent in the whole brain in the younger adults but restricted to the posterior region in the older adults. The results clarify the relationship between working memory and semantic integration, and clearly demonstrate that semantic integration decline is independent of working memory decline during aging.

scholarly journals The effects of social comparisons on subjective age and self-rated health

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Maayan Sayag ◽  
Gitit Kavé
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Peer Group ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
Subjective Health ◽  
Subjective Age ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Older adults consistently report young subjective age and provide high ratings of their subjective health. The current research examined which social comparisons older adults make when they assess their subjective age and health, as well as the effects of experimentally manipulated social comparisons on these assessments. In Study 1, 146 participants (aged 60 and over) reported to whom they compared themselves when assessing their subjective age or health. In Study 2, 100 participants (aged 60 and over) reported their subjective age and health after receiving feedback that compared them to younger adults or to their peers. Study 1 shows that participants compared themselves primarily to their peer group. Yet, individuals who selected a younger comparison group when assessing subjective age reported a younger subjective age, better self-rated health and more positive expectations regarding ageing relative to those who selected their peers as a comparison group. No equivalent differences emerged in any of the measures when participants were divided by their selection of comparison group after providing their self-rated health ratings. In Study 2, feedback that emphasised the performance of younger people led to reports of younger subjective age relative to feedback that emphasised peer performance, with no equivalent difference for self-rated health. These findings help explain why older adults feel younger and healthier than they actually are. We suggest that older adults use social comparisons as a strategy that protects them from the negative effects of ageing on self-perception.

scholarly journals Negative Effects of Embodiment in a Visuo-Spatial Working Memory Task in Children, Young Adults, and Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Amico ◽  
Sabine Schaefer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Negative Effects

Studies examining the effect of embodied cognition have shown that linking one’s body movements to a cognitive task can enhance performance. The current study investigated whether concurrent walking while encoding or recalling spatial information improves working memory performance, and whether 10-year-old children, young adults, or older adults (Mage = 72 years) are affected differently by embodiment. The goal of the Spatial Memory Task was to encode and recall sequences of increasing length by reproducing positions of target fields in the correct order. The nine targets were positioned in a random configuration on a large square carpet (2.5 m × 2.5 m). During encoding and recall, participants either did not move, or they walked into the target fields. In a within-subjects design, all possible combinations of encoding and recall conditions were tested in counterbalanced order. Contrary to our predictions, moving particularly impaired encoding, but also recall. These negative effects were present in all age groups, but older adults’ memory was hampered even more strongly by walking during encoding and recall. Our results indicate that embodiment may not help people to memorize spatial information, but can create a dual-task situation instead.

scholarly journals Resolving Age-Related Differences in Working Memory: Equating Perception and Attention Makes Older Adults Remember as Well as Younger Adults

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Verhaeghen ◽  
Shriradha Geigerman ◽  
Haoxiang Yang ◽  
Alejandra C. Montoya ◽  
Dobromir Rahnev
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Age Related

scholarly journals Does working memory protect against auditory distraction in older adults?

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yatin Mahajan ◽  
Jeesun Kim ◽  
Chris Davis
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Correct Response ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Visual Task ◽  
Oddball Paradigm ◽  
Younger Adults

Abstract Background Past research indicates that when younger adults are engaged in a visual working memory task, they are less distracted by novel auditory stimuli than when engaged in a visual task that does not require working memory. The current study aimed to determine whether working memory affords the same protection to older adults. Method We examined behavioral and EEG responses in 16 younger and 16 older adults to distractor sounds when the listeners performed two visual tasks; one that required working memory (W1) and the other that did not (W0). Auditory distractors were presented in an oddball paradigm, participants were exposed to either standard tones (600 Hz: 80%) or various novel environmental sounds (20%). Results It was found that: 1) when presented with novel vs standard sounds, older adults had faster correct response times in the W1 visual task than in the W0 task, indicating that they were less distracted by the novel sound; there was no difference in error rates. Younger adults did not show a task effect for correct response times but made slightly more errors when a novel sound was presented in the W1 task compared to the W0 task. 2) In older adults (but not the younger adults), the amplitude of N1 was smaller in the W1 condition compared to the W0 condition. 3) The working memory manipulation had no effect on MMN amplitude in older adults. 4) For the W1 compared to W0 task, the amplitude of P3a was attenuated for the older adults but not for the younger adults. Conclusions These results suggest that during the working memory manipulation older adults were able to engage working memory to reduce the processing of task-irrelevant sounds.

scholarly journals Span, CRUNCH, and Beyond: Working Memory Capacity and the Aging Brain

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 655-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils J. Schneider-Garces ◽  
Brian A. Gordon ◽  
Carrie R. Brumback-Peltz ◽  
Eunsam Shin ◽  
Yukyung Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Neural Circuits ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Memory Search ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Aging Brain ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
The Brain

Neuroimaging data emphasize that older adults often show greater extent of brain activation than younger adults for similar objective levels of difficulty. A possible interpretation of this finding is that older adults need to recruit neuronal resources at lower loads than younger adults, leaving no resources for higher loads, and thus leading to performance decrements [Compensation-Related Utilization of Neural Circuits Hypothesis; e.g., Reuter-Lorenz, P. A., & Cappell, K. A. Neurocognitive aging and the compensation hypothesis. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 177–182, 2008]. The Compensation-Related Utilization of Neural Circuits Hypothesis leads to the prediction that activation differences between younger and older adults should disappear when task difficulty is made subjectively comparable. In a Sternberg memory search task, this can be achieved by assessing brain activity as a function of load relative to the individual's memory span, which declines with age. Specifically, we hypothesized a nonlinear relationship between load and both performance and brain activity and predicted that asymptotes in the brain activation function should correlate with performance asymptotes (corresponding to working memory span). The results suggest that age differences in brain activation can be largely attributed to individual variations in working memory span. Interestingly, the brain activation data show a sigmoid relationship with load. Results are discussed in terms of Cowan's [Cowan, N. The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24, 87–114, 2001] model of working memory and theories of impaired inhibitory processes in aging.

scholarly journals What affects the magnitude of age-related dual-task costs in working memory? The role of stimulus domain and access to semantic representations

2020 ◽  
pp. 174702182097074
Author(s):  
Agnieszka J Jaroslawska ◽  
Stephen Rhodes ◽  
Clément Belletier ◽  
Jason M Doherty ◽  
Nelson Cowan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Semantic Representations ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Task Effects ◽  
Concurrent Processing ◽  
Age Related

Although there is evidence that the effect of including a concurrent processing demand on the storage of information in working memory is disproportionately larger for older than younger adults, not all studies show this age-related impairment, and the critical factors responsible for any such impairment remain elusive. Here we assess whether domain overlap between storage and processing activities, and access to semantic representations, are important determinants of performance in a sample of younger and older adults ( N = 119). We developed four versions of a processing task by manipulating the type of stimuli involved (either verbal or non-verbal) and the decision that participants had to make about the stimuli presented on the screen. Participants either had to perform a spatial judgement, in deciding whether the verbal or non-verbal item was presented above or below the centre of the screen, or a semantic judgement, in deciding whether the stimulus refers to something living or not living. The memory task was serial-ordered recall of visually presented letters. The study revealed a large increase in age-related memory differences when concurrent processing was required. These differences were smaller when storage and processing activities both used verbal materials. Dual-task effects on processing were also disproportionate for older adults. Age differences in processing performance appeared larger for tasks requiring spatial decisions rather than semantic decisions. We discuss these findings in relation to three competing frameworks of working memory and the extant literature on cognitive ageing.

A-3 Cingulo-Opercular and Frontoparietal Control Network Connectivity and Executive Functioning in Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 1024-1024
Author(s):  
Hanna K Hausman ◽  
Cheshire Hardcastle ◽  
Alejandro Albizu ◽  
Jessica N Kraft ◽  
Nicole D Evangelista ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Cognitive Domain ◽  
Set Shifting ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Memory Inhibition

Abstract Objective Executive functioning is a cognitive domain that typically declines with normal aging. Age-related disrupted connectivity in cingulo-opercular (CON) and frontoparietal control (FPCN) resting-state networks is associated with worse performance across various executive functioning tasks. This study examines the relationships between CON and FPCN connectivity and executive functioning performance in older adults across three subdomains: working memory, inhibition, and set-shifting. Methods 274 healthy older adults (age M = 71.7, SD = 5.1; 87% Caucasian) from a clinical trial at the University of Florida and University of Arizona completed tasks of working memory (Digit Span Backwards [DSB]; Letter Number Sequencing [LNS]), inhibition (Stroop), and set-shifting (Trail Making Test Part B [TMT-B]). Participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. CONN Toolbox (18b) was used for extracting average within-network connectivity of CON and FPCN. Multiple linear regressions were conducted with average network connectivity predicting performance, controlling for age, sex, education, and scanner. Results Greater average CON connectivity was associated with better performance on DSB (β = 0.26, p < 0.001), LNS (β = 0.23, p < 0.001), Stroop (β = 0.24, p < 0.001), and TMT-B (β = −0.26, p < 0.001). Greater average FPCN connectivity was associated with better performance on DSB (β = 0.22, p < 0.001) and LNS (β = 0.18, p = 0.002). Conclusions CON connectivity was significantly associated with working memory, inhibition, and set-shifting. FPCN connectivity was significantly associated with working memory. Future research should conduct regional connectivity analyses within these networks to identify intervention targets to improve executive functioning in older adults.

scholarly journals Effects of Working Memory Load and Age on the Comprehension of Passive Sentences

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Xinmiao Liu
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Memory Load ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
Age Difference ◽  
Working Memory Load ◽  
Cognitive Changes ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Passive Sentence

The ability of older adults to comprehend sentences may decline due to the cognitive changes in working memory. Therefore, an increase in working memory demands during sentence comprehension would result in poorer performance among older adults. To test this hypothesis, the present study explored sentence comprehension as a result of manipulations of age and working memory loads using a sentence-picture matching task. 35 older adults and 35 younger adults were required to match Mandarin passive sentences (high working memory load) and active sentences (low working memory load) with pictures. Passive sentences were found to be more difficult than active sentences for all participants. Older adults responded to passive sentences more slowly than younger adults. However, no significant age difference was found in accuracy of responses. Accuracy on passive sentence comprehension was marginally correlated with syntactic complexity effect among older adults. Compared with younger adults, older adults seem to be more disrupted by the increased WM load in passive sentence comprehension, but they can compensate for the decline in the accuracy of comprehension by spending extra time on sentences with high WM load.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document