Predictive coding over the lifespan: Increased reliance on perceptual priors in older adults – a magnetoencephalography and dynamic causal modelling study

AbstractAging is accompanied by unisensory decline; but to compensate for this, two complementary strategies are potentially relied upon increasingly: first, older adults integrate more information from different sensory organs. Second, according to predictive coding (PC) we form ‘templates’ (internal models or ‘priors’) of the environment through our experiences. It is through increased life experience that older adults may rely more on these templates compared to younger adults. Multisensory integration and predictive coding would be effective strategies for the perception of near-threshold stimuli, but they come at the cost of integrating irrelevant information. Their role can be studied in multisensory illusions because these require the integration of different sensory information, as well as an internal model of the world that can take precedence over sensory input. Here, we elicited a classic multisensory illusion, the sound-induced flash illusion, in younger (mean: 27 yrs) and older (mean: 67 yrs) adult participants while recording the magnetoencephalogram. Older adults perceived more illusions than younger adults. Older adults had increased pre-stimulus beta(β)-band activity compared to younger adults as predicted by microcircuit theories of predictive coding, which suggest priors and predictions are linked to β-band activity. In line with our hypothesis, transfer entropy analysis and dynamic causal models of pre-stimulus MEG data revealed a stronger illusion-related modulation of cross-modal connectivity from auditory to visual cortices in older compared to younger adults. We interpret this as the neural correlate of increased reliance on a cross-modal predictive template in older adults that is leading to the illusory percept.

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Predictive Coding Over the Lifespan: Increased Reliance on Perceptual Priors in Older Adults—A Magnetoencephalography and Dynamic Causal Modeling Study

Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnagi.2021.631599 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

Author(s):

Jason S. Chan ◽

Michael Wibral ◽

Cerisa Stawowsky ◽

Mareike Brandl ◽

Saskia Helbling ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Life Experience ◽

Predictive Coding ◽

Sensory Information ◽

Causal Modeling ◽

Beta Band ◽

Dynamic Causal Modeling ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Illusory Percept ◽

Band Activity

Aging is accompanied by unisensory decline. To compensate for this, two complementary strategies are potentially relied upon increasingly: first, older adults integrate more information from different sensory organs. Second, according to the predictive coding (PC) model, we form “templates” (internal models or “priors”) of the environment through our experiences. It is through increased life experience that older adults may rely more on these templates compared to younger adults. Multisensory integration and predictive coding would be effective strategies for the perception of near-threshold stimuli, which may however come at the cost of integrating irrelevant information. Both strategies can be studied in multisensory illusions because these require the integration of different sensory information, as well as an internal model of the world that can take precedence over sensory input. Here, we elicited a classic multisensory illusion, the sound-induced flash illusion, in younger (mean: 27 years, N = 25) and older (mean: 67 years, N = 28) adult participants while recording the magnetoencephalogram. Older adults perceived more illusions than younger adults. Older adults had increased pre-stimulus beta-band activity compared to younger adults as predicted by microcircuit theories of predictive coding, which suggest priors and predictions are linked to beta-band activity. Transfer entropy analysis and dynamic causal modeling of pre-stimulus magnetoencephalography data revealed a stronger illusion-related modulation of cross-modal connectivity from auditory to visual cortices in older compared to younger adults. We interpret this as the neural correlate of increased reliance on a cross-modal predictive template in older adults leading to the illusory percept.

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Belief in a Just World and the Perceived Injustice of Dying Young or Old

OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying ◽

10.2190/w7h7-te9e-1fwn-b8xd ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 47 (4) ◽

pp. 313-326 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Alison L. Chasteen ◽

Scott F. Madey

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Medical Decision Making ◽

Medical Decision ◽

Just World ◽

Perceived Injustice ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Perceived Justice ◽

Automobile Accident ◽

Adult Participants ◽

Relative Value

We investigated how belief in a just world (i.e., that people get what they deserve) affects the perceived injustice of dying young versus dying old. Younger and older adult participants completed a measure of their just world beliefs and then were randomly assigned to read one of four newspaper articles purportedly about a person who died in an automobile accident. In the articles, both the victim's age (19 or 79) and the victim's outlook on life (concerned about the future or living for today) were varied. Results indicated that participants viewed the death of a younger victim as more unjust than the death of an older victim. Older adults, however, experienced less negative affect than did younger adults when reading the article. Older adults also expressed a higher belief in a just world (BJW) than did younger adults. In addition, BJW was related to perceived justice. Participants with a higher BJW perceived the deaths of both victims as more tragic and unjust than did those with a low BJW. The victim's outlook on life did not affect perceived justice. Implications for medical decision-making, the use of aggressive treatment, and the relative value of youth versus age are discussed.

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Age Is Not a Barrier: Older Adults With Cancer Derive Similar Benefit in a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Remote Symptom Monitoring Intervention Compared With Younger Adults

Cancer Control ◽

10.1177/1073274820968878 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 107327482096887

Author(s):

Lorinda A. Coombs ◽

Lee Ellington ◽

Angela Fagerlin ◽

Kathi Mooney

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Interactive Voice Response ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Ease Of Use ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Symptom Monitoring ◽

Adult Participants ◽

Perceived Benefit ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Technological Tool

This study investigated a remote symptom monitoring intervention to examine if older participants with cancer received a similar magnitude of benefit compared with younger adults with cancer. We analyzed a longitudinal symptom monitoring intervention for 358 participants beginning a new course of chemotherapy treatment in community and academic oncology practices. The study design was a randomized control trial; participants were randomized to the intervention or usual care, the intervention was delivered during daily automated coaching. Older adults with moderate and severe symptoms derived similar benefit as those adults younger than 60 years of age, adherence to the study protocol which involved daily calls was high. There was no significant difference between the 2 age categories; on average, older adult participants made 88% of expected daily calls and younger adult participants made 90% of expected daily calls. Our results challenge the perception that older adults are unwilling or unable to use a technological tool such as interactive voice response and suggest that patient utilization may be guided by other factors, such as ease of use and perceived benefit from the intervention.

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Aging and Sensitivity to Illusory Target Motion With or Without Secondary Tasks

Multisensory Research ◽

10.1163/22134808-00002596 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 31 (3-4) ◽

pp. 227-249 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Alix L. de Dieuleveult ◽

Anne-Marie Brouwer ◽

Petra C. Siemonsma ◽

Jan B. F. van Erp ◽

Eli Brenner

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Visual Information ◽

Sensory Information ◽

Older Individuals ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Secondary Tasks ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

The Right ◽

Task Irrelevant ◽

Background Motion

Older individuals seem to find it more difficult to ignore inaccurate sensory cues than younger individuals. We examined whether this could be quantified using an interception task. Twenty healthy young adults (age 18–34) and twenty-four healthy older adults (age 60–82) were asked to tap on discs that were moving downwards on a screen with their finger. Moving the background to the left made the discs appear to move more to the right. Moving the background to the right made them appear to move more to the left. The discs disappeared before the finger reached the screen, so participants had to anticipate how the target would continue to move. We examined how misjudging the disc’s motion when the background moves influenced tapping. Participants received veridical feedback about their performance, so their sensitivity to the illusory motion indicates to what extent they could ignore the task-irrelevant visual information. We expected older adults to be more sensitive to the illusion than younger adults. To investigate whether sensorimotor or cognitive load would increase this sensitivity, we also asked participants to do the task while standing on foam or counting tones. Background motion influenced older adults more than younger adults. The secondary tasks did not increase the background’s influence. Older adults might be more sensitive to the moving background because they find it more difficult to ignore irrelevant sensory information in general, but they may rely more on vision because they have less reliable proprioceptive and vestibular information.

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Reliance on Automation as a Function of Expectation of Reliability, Cost of Verification, and Age

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/154193120705100102 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 51 (1) ◽

pp. 6-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Neta Ezer ◽

Arthur D. Fisk ◽

Wendy A. Rogers

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Negative Correlation ◽

Decision Aid ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Initial Expectation ◽

The Cost

The influence of trust on automation reliance has been examined during interaction with the automation, but little attention has been paid to individuals' initial expectation of automation reliability as it affects future reliance, especially when the cost of not relying on automation is known in advance. Additionally, whereas automation may help to improve the lives of older adults, their expectations of automation reliability have not been thoroughly considered. In this study, 16 older adults and 16 younger adults were asked about their expectation of the reliability of an automated counting aid and half were told that they would lose points for verifying the automation. Subsequent reliance on the decision aid was recorded. The results indicated that neither age nor the cost of verification appears to have an effect on reliability expectancy. Furthermore, predictions of reliability had a negative correlation to reliance. The findings suggest that individuals develop expectations of automation over the course of experience and interaction with automation.

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Event Centrality of Positive and Negative Autobiographical Memories in Older Adulthood

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igab046.2641 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 712-712

Author(s):

Justina Pociunaite ◽

Tabea Wolf

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Individual Differences ◽

Life Experience ◽

Age Groups ◽

Openness To Experience ◽

Middle Aged ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Age Related ◽

Middle Aged Adults ◽

Positive Memories

Abstract Centrality of an event (CE) is a characteristic denoting how important a life experience is to one’s identity. Usually, positive memories are more central than negative ones in the community samples. Nevertheless, there is emerging evidence showing substantial individual differences in how one perceives CE. Especially regarding age, one could expect pronounced differences due to age-related changes in personal goals. In this study, we investigated how older adults differ from young and middle-aged adults. Apart from age, we tested whether personality traits such as neuroticism and openness to experience influence the CE ratings among age groups. The sample comprised of 363 German participants, age ranging from 18 to 89 (M=49.57, SD=17.087), 67.2 % of the sample were women. Using multilevel analysis, we found the CE of positive memories to be higher in all age groups. The CE of positive events significantly differed for older adults compared to younger adults but not to the middle-aged group. With respect to personality, neuroticism had an impact only on the CE of negative memories in younger and middle-aged adults. For older adults, neither neuroticism, nor openness to experience had an impact on CE ratings. This shows that while older adults significantly differ from younger adults in the CE of positive memories, other individual differences characteristics do not have an impact on the way older adults perceive memories as central to their identity.

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Some personal life events are more prominent than others: Younger and older adults agree on which life events matter most

Memory Studies ◽

10.1177/1750698017754250 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 551-569

Author(s):

Sharda Umanath ◽

Dorthe Berntsen

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Autobiographical Memory ◽

Life Events ◽

Life Experience ◽

Life Story ◽

Personal Life ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Cultural Life ◽

Life Script

Some important life events are part of the cultural life script as expected transitional events with culturally sanctioned timing. However, not all personally important events align with the cultural life script, including some events that are widely experienced. Here, we ask whether there are specific characteristics that define the events that become part of a culture’s life script and what role life experience plays. In Experiment 1, younger adults rated life events on different measures tapping central event dimensions in autobiographical memory theories. Cross-culturally extremely frequent cultural life script events consistently received higher ratings than other commonly experienced life story events. Experiment 2 demonstrated that these findings did not interact with age. Both younger and older adults rated the extreme cultural life script events most highly. In addition, older adults rated all types of life events more highly than younger adults, suggesting a greater appreciation of life events overall.

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Self-projection in younger and older adults: A study of episodic memory, prospection, and theory of mind

10.31234/osf.io/hpxmy ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Shoshana N Jarvis ◽

Jeremy K. Miller

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Theory Of Mind ◽

Episodic Memory ◽

Older Adult ◽

Cognitive Abilities ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

The Past ◽

System P ◽

Adult Participants

Self-projection is the ability to orient the self in different places in time and space. Episodic memory, prospection, and theory of mind (ToM) are all cognitive abilities that share an element of self-projection. Previous research has posited that each of these abilities stem from the same neural network (Buckner & Carroll, 2006). The current study compared performance of cognitively healthy older adults and younger adults on several self-projection tasks to examine the relatedness of these constructs behaviorally. Episodic memory and prospection were measured using an episodic interview task where the participants were asked to remember or imagine events that either had happened in the past or could happen in the future and then gave ratings describing the extent to which they were mentally experiencing the event and from what perspective they viewed it. ToM was measured by asking participants to make judgments regarding the intentions of characters described in stories that involved cognitive, affective, or ironic components. Our results demonstrate that aging influences episodic memory, prospection, and ToM similarly: older adult participants showed declines on each of these measures compared to younger adults. Further, we observed correlations between performance on the measures of episodic memory and prospection as well as between episodic memory and ToM, although no correlation between prospection and ToM was observed after controlling for chronological age. We discuss these results in the light of theories suggesting that each of these abilities is governed by a common brain system.

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Which Phish Is on the Hook? Phishing Vulnerability for Older Versus Younger Adults

Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society ◽

10.1177/0018720819855570 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 62 (5) ◽

pp. 704-717 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Dawn M. Sarno ◽

Joanna E. Lewis ◽

Corey J. Bohil ◽

Mark B. Neider

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Age Differences ◽

Time Pressure ◽

Poor Performance ◽

Self Report ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Age Related ◽

Unlimited Time ◽

Task Conditions ◽

The Cost

ObjectiveTo determine if there are age-related differences in phishing vulnerability and if those differences exist under various task conditions (e.g., framing and time pressure).BackgroundPrevious research suggests that older adults may be a vulnerable population to phishing attacks. Most research exploring age differences has used limiting designs, including retrospective self-report measures and restricted email sets.MethodThe present studies explored how older and younger adults classify a diverse sample of 100 legitimate and phishing emails. In Experiment 1, participants rated the emails as either spam or not spam. Experiment 2 explored how framing would alter the results when participants rated emails as safe or not safe. In Experiment 3, participants performed the same task as Experiment 1, but were put under time pressure.ResultsNo age differences were observed in overall classification accuracy across the three experiments, rather all participants exhibited poor performance (20%–30% errors). Older adults took significantly longer to make classifications and were more liberal in classifying emails as spam or not safe. Time pressure seemed to remove this bias but did not influence overall accuracy.ConclusionOlder adults appear to be more cautious when classifying emails. However, being extra careful may come at the cost of classification speed and does not seem to improve accuracy.ApplicationAge demographics should be considered in the implementation of a cyber-training methodology. Younger adults may be less vigilant against cyber threats than initially predicted; older adults might be less prone to deception when given unlimited time to respond.

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RAMBLE ON: LONELINESS AND OFF-TOPIC VERBOSITY IN OLDER ADULTS

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.1952 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S531-S531

Author(s):

Leah N Smith ◽

Jessica H Helphrey ◽

Jennifer Sawyer ◽

Leigh A Fierro ◽

Ben K Mokhtari ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Social Relationships ◽

Procedural Memory ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Communication Style ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Age Related ◽

Adult Participants ◽

Healthy Community ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Numerous studies have found off-topic verbosity occurs more frequently in older adults than younger adults. Previous theories have attributed this to age-related decline, emotion recognition, and communication style. Previous research has linked lower loneliness with more off-topic verbosity; however, the precise nature of this relationship remains unclear. Loneliness has been defined as an inconsistency between an individual’s actual and desired social relationships, and previous research has found that loneliness is associated with lower cognitive and social outcomes among diverse populations including older adults. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between loneliness and off-topic verbosity among older adults. Healthy, community dwelling older adult participants (N = 82; age 60-99, M = 76.66, SD = 8.52) completed the Three-Item Loneliness Scale and provided a verbal sample in which they recounted an autobiographical memory (a vacation) and a procedural memory (how to make a breakfast); the verbal samples were transcribed and rated by three independent judges. In contrast with previous research, results found that loneliness was associated with a greater tendency to engage in tangential verbal topics. This suggests that social factors such as loneliness may impact the way some older adults express themselves verbally.

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