Cognitive control deficits in healthy aging: Neuroimaging investigations

Memory performance declines in the course of healthy aging, and this chapter discusses some reasons why this may be so. The author suggests that there is an age-related decline in both processing resources and in cognitive control, and that these deficiencies underlie less efficient encoding and retrieval processes. Age-related memory losses are greater in some tasks than in others, however, and the case is made that losses are relatively slight in situations that involve substantial amounts of environmental support and therefore require small amounts of self-initiated activity. In turn, the inefficiency of self-initiated activities is attributed to age-related deficiencies in frontal lobe functions. Age-related deficits in recall performance (which is heavily reliant on self-initiation) are reduced in a recognition test, which embodies greater environmental support. Deficits were also reduced by the use of pictures as materials, and there were no age differences in the ability to hold high-valued words in working memory. These effects are illustrated by experiments carried out by the author and collaborators.

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Effect of Cognitive Control on Attentional Processing of Emotional Information Among Older Adults: Evidence From an Eye-Tracking Study

Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnagi.2021.644379 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

Author(s):

Haining Liu ◽

Haihong Liu ◽

Feng Li ◽

Buxin Han ◽

Cuili Wang

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Cognitive Control ◽

Eye Tracking ◽

Healthy Aging ◽

Older Individuals ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Spatial Cueing ◽

Age Related ◽

Cueing Task ◽

Engagement And Disengagement

Background: Although numerous studies have suggested that the gradually increasing selective preference for positive information over negative information in older adults depends on cognitive control processes, few have reported the characteristics of different attention stages in the emotional processing of older individuals. The present study used a real-time eye-tracking technique to disentangle the attentional engagement and disengagement processes involved in age-related positivity effect (PE).Methods: Eye movement data from a spatial-cueing task were obtained for 32 older and 32 younger healthy participants. The spatial-cueing task with varied cognitive loads appeared to be an effective way to explore the role of cognitive control during the attention engagement and disengagement stages of emotion processing.Results: Compared with younger adults, older participants showed more positive gaze preferences when cognitive resources were sufficient for face processing at the attention engagement stage. However, the age-related PE was not observed at the attention disengagement stage because older adults had more difficulty disengaging from fearful faces than did the younger adults due to the consumption of attention by the explicit target judgment.Conclusion: The present study highlights how cognitive control moderates positive gaze preferences at different attention processing stages. These findings may have far-reaching implications for understanding, preventing, and intervening in unsuccessful aging and, thus, in promoting active and healthy aging.

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Context processing in older adults: Evidence for a theory relating cognitive control to neurobiology in healthy aging.

Journal of Experimental Psychology General ◽

10.1037/0096-3445.130.4.746 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 130 (4) ◽

pp. 746-763 ◽

Cited By ~ 251

Author(s):

Todd S. Braver ◽

Deanna M. Barch ◽

Beth A. Keys ◽

Cameron S. Carter ◽

Jonathan D. Cohen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Cognitive Control ◽

Healthy Aging ◽

Context Processing

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102. Enhanced cognitive control in healthy aging revealed by increased prefrontal bioelectrical activity to the Stroop task

Clinical Neurophysiology ◽

10.1016/j.clinph.2015.09.110 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 127 (4) ◽

pp. e155-e156

Author(s):

N. Amato ◽

A. Nossa ◽

G. Magnani ◽

A. Martins-Silva ◽

V. Martinelli ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Stroop Task ◽

Healthy Aging ◽

Bioelectrical Activity

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Cognitive control and language ability contribute to online reading comprehension: Implications for older adult bilinguals

International Journal of Bilingualism ◽

10.1177/1367006918763143 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 23 (5) ◽

pp. 971-985 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Megan Zirnstein ◽

Janet G van Hell ◽

Judith F Kroll

Keyword(s):

Executive Function ◽

Cognitive Control ◽

Older Adult ◽

Healthy Aging ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Prediction Errors ◽

Performance Tasks ◽

Comprehension Skill ◽

And Behavior ◽

And Control

Aims: Previous research has indicated that young adults form predictions for the meaning of upcoming words when contexts are highly constrained. This can lead to processing benefits when expectations are met, but also costs, as indicated by a late, frontally distributed and positive event-related potential (ERP), when an unexpected word is encountered. This effect has been associated with the conflict that arises for prediction errors, as well as attempts to suppress a previously formed prediction. However, individual differences have been found for young adult bilingual and older adult monolingual readers, whereby only those who exhibited better language regulation and executive function skill showed this pattern. The goal of the current study was to investigate how these executive functions influence comprehension skill and behavior for elderly bilinguals. Approach: We asked whether older adult monolinguals and bilinguals were capable of generating predictions online, and whether cognitive control and language regulation ability were related to the magnitude of prediction costs. Data and Analysis: Participants ( N = 27) read sentences while their electroencephalogram was recorded, and completed a battery of language and cognitive performance tasks. Findings: While older adult monolinguals showed some sensitivity to prediction error, older adult bilinguals produced greater prediction costs, an effect that was significantly correlated with both age and control ability. Originality: This study is the first to show ERP evidence that bilinguals are capable of forming predictions during comprehension in older adulthood. Significance: These results have important implications for the ways in which bilingualism may influence comprehension across the lifespan. While healthy aging has been proposed to lead to declines in executive function these declines may be mitigated for bilinguals, who have a wealth of experience in negotiating language-related conflict.

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Cognitive control constrains memory attributions

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x19001869 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 42 ◽

Author(s):

Colleen M. Kelley ◽

Larry L. Jacoby

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Older Adults ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Cognitive Control

Abstract Cognitive control constrains retrieval processing and so restricts what comes to mind as input to the attribution system. We review evidence that older adults, patients with Alzheimer's disease, and people with traumatic brain injury exert less cognitive control during retrieval, and so are susceptible to memory misattributions in the form of dramatic levels of false remembering.

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Longitudinal Changes in Individual BrainAGE in Healthy Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer’s Disease

GeroPsych ◽

10.1024/1662-9647/a000074 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 25 (4) ◽

pp. 235-245 ◽

Cited By ~ 64

Author(s):

Katja Franke ◽

Christian Gaser

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Healthy Aging ◽

Brain Aging ◽

Elderly Subjects ◽

Additional Increase ◽

Longitudinal Changes ◽

Novel Method ◽

The Brain

We recently proposed a novel method that aggregates the multidimensional aging pattern across the brain to a single value. This method proved to provide stable and reliable estimates of brain aging – even across different scanners. While investigating longitudinal changes in BrainAGE in about 400 elderly subjects, we discovered that patients with Alzheimer’s disease and subjects who had converted to AD within 3 years showed accelerated brain atrophy by +6 years at baseline. An additional increase in BrainAGE accumulated to a score of about +9 years during follow-up. Accelerated brain aging was related to prospective cognitive decline and disease severity. In conclusion, the BrainAGE framework indicates discrepancies in brain aging and could thus serve as an indicator for cognitive functioning in the future.

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Psychophysiological Responses to Stress Related to Anxiety in Healthy Aging

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803/a000221 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 33 (3) ◽

pp. 188-197 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Roberta Adorni ◽

Agostino Brugnera ◽

Alessia Gatti ◽

Giorgio A. Tasca ◽

Kaoru Sakatani ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Healthy Aging ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Response Times ◽

Cognitive Resources ◽

Stressful Condition ◽

Healthy Elderly ◽

Situational Stress ◽

Anxiety Response ◽

Nirs Signal ◽

Psychophysiological Correlates

Abstract. The aim of the study was to explore the effects of situational stress and anxiety in a group of healthy elderly, both in terms of psychophysiological correlates and cognitive performance. Eighteen participants ( Mage = 70 ± 6.3; range 60–85) were assessed for anxiety and were instructed to perform a computerized math task, under both a stressful and a control condition, while near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) signal and electrocardiography (ECG) were recorded. NIRS results evidenced an increased activation of right PFC during the entire procedure, even if effect sizes between left and right channels were larger during the experimental condition. The amount of right activation during the stressful condition was positively correlated with anxiety. Response times (RTs) were slower in more anxious than in less anxious individuals, both during the control and stressful conditions. Accuracy was lower in more anxious than in less anxious individuals, only during the stressful condition. Moreover, heart rate (HR) was not modulated by situational stress, nor by anxiety. Overall, the present study suggests that in healthy elderly, anxiety level has a significant impact on cerebral responses, and both on the amount of cognitive resources and the quality of performance in stressful situations.

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