scholarly journals Auditory word recognition across the lifespan

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 119-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrike K. Blumenfeld ◽  
Scott R. Schroeder ◽  
Susan C. Bobb ◽  
Max R. Freeman ◽  
Viorica Marian
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Word Identification ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Auditory Word ◽  
Auditory Word Recognition ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Age Related Changes

Abstract Recent research suggests that bilingual experience reconfigures linguistic and nonlinguistic cognitive processes. We examined the relationship between linguistic competition resolution and nonlinguistic cognitive control in younger and older adults who were either bilingual or monolingual. Participants heard words in English and identified the referent among four pictures while eye-movements were recorded. Target pictures (e.g., cab) appeared with a phonological competitor picture (e.g., cat) and two filler pictures. After each eye-tracking trial, priming probes assessed residual activation and inhibition of target and competitor words. When accounting for processing speed, results revealed that age-related changes in activation and inhibition are smaller in bilinguals than in monolinguals. Moreover, younger and older bilinguals, but not monolinguals, recruited similar inhibition mechanisms during word identification and during a nonlinguistic Stroop task. Results suggest that, during lexical access, bilinguals show more consistent competition resolution and recruitment of cognitive control across the lifespan than monolinguals.

scholarly journals C-20 Cardiorespiratory Fitness Predicts Processing Speed Performance in Urban Latin Americans

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 1049-1049
Author(s):  
A Alioto ◽  
K Conde ◽  
M Salazar-Villanea ◽  
J Moncada-Jimenez ◽  
D Cahn-Weiner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cardiorespiratory Fitness ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Block Design ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Cognitive Improvement ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Minute Walk

Abstract Objective There is evidence that cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) protects against age-related declines in processing speed (PS), but studies investigating older adults living in low and middle-income countries are lacking. We used data from the Epidemiology and Development of Alzheimer’s Disease (EDAD) study to investigate the role of CRF on PS in older Costa Rican adults. Method 306 community dwelling older adults (mean age = 69) were recruited for a study on cognition and physical fitness. We used a regression model to test the association between CRF and a composite measure of PS (Digit Symbol, Trails A, Block Design, and Stroop Color Naming). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with full information maximum likelihood was conducted in a nested multi-step process on subtest scores. We also compared the strength of the relationship between two measures of CRF: Maximal oxygen uptake (V02 peak) and a latent variable comprised of distance achieved during the 6-minute Walk Test and change in heart rate before and after walking (Modified 6-Minute Walk). Results Higher CRF was significantly associated with PS, and the association remained significant after controlling for age and sex (B = 0.21; p < .001). The strength of the relationship between two measures of CRF was very high, suggesting equivalence of these indices. Conclusions CRF and PS are clinically meaningful therapeutic targets for future prevention trials in Latin America. The modified 6-Minute Walk is an efficient approximation of the gold standard CRF measurement. The cognitive benefits of CRF should be compared to other lifestyle interventions (e.g., diet) to determine the active components of cognitive improvement.

scholarly journals Presenting features of COVID-19 in older people: relationships with frailty, inflammation and mortality

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1089-1094
Author(s):  
Paul Knopp ◽  
Amy Miles ◽  
Thomas E. Webb ◽  
Benjamin C. Mcloughlin ◽  
Imran Mannan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Independent Risk Factor ◽  
C Reactive Protein ◽  
Reactive Protein ◽  
Age Related ◽  
All Cause Mortality ◽  
Secondary Outcomes ◽  
Cardinal Symptoms ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Age Related Changes

Abstract Purpose To describe the clinical features of COVID-19 in older adults, and relate these to outcomes. Methods A cohort study of 217 individuals (median age 80, IQR 74–85 years; 62% men) hospitalised with COVID-19, followed up for all-cause mortality, was conducted. Secondary outcomes included cognitive and physical function at discharge. C-reactive protein and neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio were used as measures of immune activity. Results Cardinal COVID-19 symptoms (fever, dyspnoea, cough) were common but not universal. Inflammation on hospitalisation was lower in frail older adults. Fever, dyspnoea, delirium and inflammation were associated with mortality. Delirium at presentation was an independent risk factor for cognitive decline at discharge. Conclusions COVID-19 may present without cardinal symptoms as well as implicate a possible role for age-related changes in immunity in mediating the relationship between frailty and mortality.

scholarly journals Age-related sensory deficits and their consequences

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan E. Peelle
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Cognitive Demands ◽  
Sensory Deficits ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Sensory Changes ◽  
Visual Processing Speed ◽  
Age Related Changes

Changes in sensory systems are common as we get older, and become more likely with increasing age. In the auditory system, age-related changes are seen in domains such as auditory sensitivity, temporal processing, and spatial localization, which have significant effects on speech understanding. In vision, age related changes are seen in contrast sensitivity, scotopic processing, and visual processing speed, which have consequences for activities such as reading and driving. In addition to hearing and vision, aging is associated with changes in smell, taste, and balance. Beyond simple perceptual processing, age-related sensory changes can increase cognitive demands, requiring greater involvement of domain-general cognitive processes during perception that reduce resources available for other operations. Capturing individual variability in sensory changes and their consequences is an important part of understanding normal and pathological aging.

scholarly journals Activity Engagement and Cognitive Performance Amongst Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandria N. Weaver ◽  
Susanne M. Jaeggi
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Cognitive Reserve ◽  
Mental Functioning ◽  
Activity Engagement ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Cognitive Activities ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Age Related Changes

Research supporting cognitive reserve theory suggests that engaging in a variety of cognitive, social, and physical activities may serve as protective factors against age-related changes in mental functioning, especially if the activities are cognitively engaging. Individuals who participate in a variety of cognitive activities have been found to be more likely to maintain a higher level of cognitive functioning and be less likely to develop dementia. In this study, we explore the relationship between engaging in a variety of activities and cognitive performance amongst 206 healthy older adults between the ages of 65–85. Age and years of education were found to be the most significant predictors of a global composite representing cognitive performance, consistent with previous work linking these variables to age-related changes in cognition and the cognitive reserve. We interpret these results to suggest that age and education are better predictors of global cognitive performance in older adults than self-reported activity engagement.

scholarly journals Presenting features of COVID-19 in older people: relationships with frailty, inflammation and mortality

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Knopp ◽  
Amy Miles ◽  
Thomas E Webb ◽  
Benjamin C Mcloughlin ◽  
Imran Mannan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
C Reactive Protein ◽  
Immune Activity ◽  
Neutrophil Lymphocyte Ratio ◽  
Reactive Protein ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Cardinal Symptoms ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Age Related Changes

AbstractPurposeTo describe the clinical features of COVID-19 in older adults, and relate these to outcomes.MethodsCohort study of 217 individuals (≥70 years) hospitalised with COVID-19, followed up for allcause mortality. Secondary outcomes included cognitive and physical function at discharge. C-reactive protein and neutrophil: lymphocyte ratio were used as measures of immune activity.ResultsCardinal COVID-19 symptoms (fever, dyspnoea, cough) were common but not universal. Inflammation on hospitalisation was lower in frail older adults. Fever, dyspnoea, delirium and inflammation were associated with mortality. Delirium at presentation was an independent risk factor for cognitive decline at discharge.ConclusionsCOVID-19 may present without cardinal symptoms as well as implicate a possible role for age-related changes in immunity in mediating the relationship between frailty and mortality.Key summary pointsAimTo characterise symptoms, key findings and clinical outcomes in older adults with COVID-19Findings12% of older individuals did not present with classical COVID-19 symptoms, though fever, dyspnoea, delirium and raised inflammation were associated with higher mortality. Compared with fitter older individuals, immune activity was lower in frailer patients.MessageCOVID-19 may present without cardinal symptoms as well as implicate a possible role for age-related changes in immunity in mediating the relationship between frailty and mortality.

Inefficient Encoding as an Explanation for Age-Related Deficits in Recollection-Based Processing

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 148-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Friedman ◽  
Ray Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Semantic Retrieval ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Face ◽  
Episodic Memories

A cardinal feature of aging is a decline in episodic memory (EM). Nevertheless, there is evidence that some older adults may be able to “compensate” for failures in recollection-based processing by recruiting brain regions and cognitive processes not normally recruited by the young. We review the evidence suggesting that age-related declines in EM performance and recollection-related brain activity (left-parietal EM effect; LPEM) are due to altered processing at encoding. We describe results from our laboratory on differences in encoding- and retrieval-related activity between young and older adults. We then show that, relative to the young, in older adults brain activity at encoding is reduced over a brain region believed to be crucial for successful semantic elaboration in a 400–1,400-ms interval (left inferior prefrontal cortex, LIPFC; Johnson, Nessler, & Friedman, 2013 ; Nessler, Friedman, Johnson, & Bersick, 2007 ; Nessler, Johnson, Bersick, & Friedman, 2006 ). This reduced brain activity is associated with diminished subsequent recognition-memory performance and the LPEM at retrieval. We provide evidence for this premise by demonstrating that disrupting encoding-related processes during this 400–1,400-ms interval in young adults affords causal support for the hypothesis that the reduction over LIPFC during encoding produces the hallmarks of an age-related EM deficit: normal semantic retrieval at encoding, reduced subsequent episodic recognition accuracy, free recall, and the LPEM. Finally, we show that the reduced LPEM in young adults is associated with “additional” brain activity over similar brain areas as those activated when older adults show deficient retrieval. Hence, rather than supporting the compensation hypothesis, these data are more consistent with the scaffolding hypothesis, in which the recruitment of additional cognitive processes is an adaptive response across the life span in the face of momentary increases in task demand due to poorly-encoded episodic memories.

Age-Related Differences in Motivational Integration and Cognitive Control

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debbie Marianne Yee ◽  
Sarah L Adams ◽  
Asad Beck ◽  
Todd Samuel Braver
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Monetary Reward ◽  
Potential Candidate ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Cognitive Task Performance

Motivational incentives play an influential role in value-based decision-making and cognitive control. A compelling hypothesis in the literature suggests that the brain integrates the motivational value of diverse incentives (e.g., motivational integration) into a common currency value signal that influences decision-making and behavior. To investigate whether motivational integration processes change during healthy aging, we tested older (N=44) and younger (N=54) adults in an innovative incentive integration task paradigm that establishes dissociable and additive effects of liquid (e.g., juice, neutral, saltwater) and monetary incentives on cognitive task performance. The results reveal that motivational incentives improve cognitive task performance in both older and younger adults, providing novel evidence demonstrating that age-related cognitive control deficits can be ameliorated with sufficient incentive motivation. Additional analyses revealed clear age-related differences in motivational integration. Younger adult task performance was modulated by both monetary and liquid incentives, whereas monetary reward effects were more gradual in older adults and more strongly impacted by trial-by-trial performance feedback. A surprising discovery was that older adults shifted attention from liquid valence toward monetary reward throughout task performance, but younger adults shifted attention from monetary reward toward integrating both monetary reward and liquid valence by the end of the task, suggesting differential strategic utilization of incentives. Together these data suggest that older adults may have impairments in incentive integration, and employ different motivational strategies to improve cognitive task performance. The findings suggest potential candidate neural mechanisms that may serve as the locus of age-related change, providing targets for future cognitive neuroscience investigations.

scholarly journals The Neural Correlates of Declining Performance with Age: Evidence for Age-Related Changes in Cognitive Control

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. 1739-1749 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Sharp ◽  
S. K. Scott ◽  
M. A. Mehta ◽  
R. J.S. Wise
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Age Related Changes
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