scholarly journals Load-dependent modulation of alpha oscillations during working memory encoding and retention in young and older adults

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Sghirripa ◽  
Lynton Graetz ◽  
Ashley Merkin ◽  
Nigel C Rogasch ◽  
John G Semmler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Alpha Oscillations ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Frequency Changes

AbstractWorking memory (WM) is vulnerable to age-related decline, particularly under high loads. Visual alpha oscillations contribute to WM performance in younger adults, and although alpha decreases in power and frequency with age, it is unclear if alpha activity supports WM in older adults. We recorded electroencephalography (EEG) while 24 younger (aged 18-35 years) and 30 older (aged 50-86) adults performed a modified Sternberg task with varying load conditions. Older adults demonstrated slower reaction times at all loads, but there were no significant age differences in accuracy. Regardless of age, alpha power decreased, and alpha frequency increased with load during encoding, and the magnitude of alpha suppression during retention was larger at higher loads. While alpha power during retention was lower than fixation in older, but not younger adults, the relative change from fixation was not significantly different between age groups. Individual differences in alpha power did not predict performance for either age groups or at any WM loads. Future research should elaborate the functional significance of alpha power and frequency changes that accompany WM performance in cognitive ageing.

scholarly journals Aging impairs primary task resumption and attentional control processes following interruptions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlene Roesner ◽  
Bianca Zickerick ◽  
Melinda Sabo ◽  
Daniel Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Primary Task ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Memory Content ◽  
Task Resumption

Attentional selection of working memory content is impaired after an interruption. This effect was shown to increase with age. Here we investigate how electrophysiological mechanisms underlying attentional selection within working memory differ during primary task resumption between younger and older adults. Participants performed a working memory task, while be-ing frequently interrupted with either a cognitively low- or high-demanding arithmetic task. Afterwards, a retrospective cue (retro-cue) indicated the working memory content required for later report. The detrimental effect of the interruption was evident in both age groups, but while younger adults were more strongly affected by a high- than by a low-demanding inter-ruption, the performance deficit appeared independently of the cognitive requirements of the interruption task in older adults. A similar pattern was found regarding frontal-posterior con-nectivity in the theta frequency range, suggesting that aging decreases the ability to selectively maintain relevant information within working memory. The power of mid-frontal theta oscilla-tions (4-7 Hz) featured a comparable effect of interruptions in both age groups. However, pos-terior alpha power (8-14 Hz) following the retro-cue was more diminished by a preceding in-terruption in older adults. These results suggest an age-related deficit in the attentional selec-tion and maintenance of primary task information following an interruption that appeared in-dependent from the cognitive requirements of the interrupting task.

Does predictive cueing of encoding stimulus duration modulate alpha power and facilitate visual working memory performance in younger and older adults?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Sghirripa ◽  
Lynton Graetz ◽  
Nigel Rogasch ◽  
John Semmler ◽  
Mitchell Goldsworthy
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Visual Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Alpha Power ◽  
Retention Period ◽  
Match To Sample ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Oscillatory Power

Both selective attention and visual working memory (WM) performance are vulnerable to age related decline. Older adults perform worse on, and are less able to modulate oscillatory power in the alpha frequency range (8-12 Hz) than younger adults in WM tasks involving predictive cues about ‘where’ or ‘when’ a stimulus will be present. However, no study has investigated whether alpha power is modulated by cues predicting ‘how long’ an encoding duration will be. To test this, we recorded electroencephalography (EEG) while 24 younger (aged 18-33 years) and 23 older (aged 60-77 years) adults completed a modified delay match-to-sample task where participants were cued to the duration (either 0.1 s or 0.5 s) of an encoding stimulus consisting of 4 coloured squares. We found: (1) predictive cues increased WM capacity, but long encoding duration trials led to reduced WM capacity in both age groups, compared to short encoding duration trials; (2) no evidence for differences in preparatory alpha power between predictive and neutral cues for either short or long encoding durations, but preparatory alpha suppression was weaker in older adults; (3) retention period oscillatory power differed between short and long encoding duration trials, but these differences were no longer present when comparing the trial types from the onset of the encoding stimulus; and (4) oscillatory power in the preparatory and retention periods were not related to task performance. Our results suggest that preparatory alpha power is not modulated by predictive cues towards encoding duration during visual WM, however, reductions in alpha/beta oscillatory power during visual WM retention may be linked to the encoding stimulus, rather than a process specific to WM retention.

Measuring the subjective cost of listening effort using a discounting task

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Drew Jordan McLaughlin ◽  
Todd Samuel Braver ◽  
Jonathan E. Peelle
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Monetary Reward ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Listening Effort ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Economic Decision Making

Purpose: Objective measures of listening effort have been gaining prominence, as they provide metrics to quantify the difficulty of understanding speech under a variety of circumstances. A key challenge has been to develop paradigms that enable the complementary measurement of subjective listening effort in a quantitatively precise manner. In the present study, we introduce a novel decision-making paradigm to examine age-related and individual differences in subjective effort during listening.Method: Older and younger adults were presented with spoken sentences mixed with speech-shaped noise at multiple signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). On each trial subjects were offered the choice between completing an easier listening trial (presented at +20 dB SNR) for a smaller monetary reward, or a harder listening trial (presented at either +4, 0, -4, -8, or -12 dB SNR) for a greater monetary reward. By varying the amount of the reward offered for the easier option, the subjective value of performing effortful listening trials at each SNR could be assessed. Results: Older adults discounted the value of effortful listening to a greater degree than young adults, opting to accept less money in order to avoid more difficult SNRs. Additionally, older adults with poorer hearing and smaller working memory capacities were more likely to choose easier trials; however, in younger adults, no relationship with hearing or working memory was found. Self-reported measures of economic status did not affect these relationships. Conclusion: These findings suggest that subjective listening effort depends on factors including, but not necessarily limited to, hearing and working memory. Additionally, this study demonstrates that economic decision-making paradigms can be a useful approach for assessing subjective listening effort, and may prove beneficial in future research.

scholarly journals Semantic Relatedness Corrects the Age-Related Binding Deficit in Working Memory and Episodic Memory

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (9) ◽  
pp. 1841-1849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa M Loaiza ◽  
Sabina Srokova
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Semantic Relatedness ◽  
Item Memory ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Long Term Retention

Abstract Objectives It is well known that age differentially impacts aspects of long-term episodic memory (EM): Whereas a binding deficit indicates that older adults are less capable than younger adults to encode or retrieve associations between information (e.g., the pairing between two memoranda, such as lock – race), item memory is relatively intact (e.g., recognizing lock without its original pairing). Method We tested whether this deficit could be corrected by facilitating establishment of the bindings in working memory (WM) through adapting the semantic relatedness of studied pairs according to participants’ ongoing performance (Experiments 1 and 2). We also examined whether this was evident for the long-term retention of pairs that were not tested in WM (Experiment 2). Results The results revealed matched binding and item memory in WM and EM between age groups. Most importantly, older adults required increased semantic strength between word pairs to achieve similar performance to that of younger adults, regardless of whether pairs were immediately tested during the WM task. Discussion These findings indicate that relying on their superior semantic memory can correct the commonly exhibited profound deficit in binding memory in older age.

scholarly journals The neural bases of multimodal sensory integration in older adults

2021 ◽  
pp. 016502542097936
Author(s):  
Michele T. Diaz ◽  
Ege Yalcinbas
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Mcgurk Effect ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Neural Bases ◽  
Multisensory Input

Although hearing often declines with age, prior research has shown that older adults may benefit from multisensory input to a greater extent when compared to younger adults, a concept known as inverse effectiveness. While there is behavioral evidence in support of this phenomenon, less is known about its neural basis. The present functional MRI (fMRI) study examined how older and younger adults processed multimodal auditory-visual (AV) phonemic stimuli which were either congruent or incongruent across modalities. Incongruent AV pairs were designed to elicit the McGurk effect. Behaviorally, reaction times were significantly faster during congruent trials compared to incongruent trials for both age-groups, and overall older adults responded more slowly. The interaction was not significant, suggesting that older adults processed the AV stimuli similarly to younger adults. Although there were minimal behavioral differences, age-related differences in functional activation were identified: Younger adults elicited greater activation than older adults in primary sensory regions including superior temporal gyrus, the calcarine fissure, and left postcentral gyrus. In contrast, older adults elicited greater activation than younger adults in dorsal frontal regions including middle and superior frontal gyri, as well as dorsal parietal regions. These data suggest that while there is age-related stability in behavioral sensitivity to multimodal stimuli, the neural bases for this effect differed between older and younger adults. Our results demonstrated that older adults underrecruited primary sensory cortices and had increased recruitment of regions involved in executive function, attention, and monitoring processes, which may reflect an attempt to compensate.

scholarly journals Measuring the Subjective Cost of Listening Effort Using a Discounting Task

2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-347
Author(s):  
Drew J. McLaughlin ◽  
Todd S. Braver ◽  
Jonathan E. Peelle
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Monetary Reward ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Listening Effort ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Economic Decision Making

Purpose Objective measures of listening effort have been gaining prominence, as they provide metrics to quantify the difficulty of understanding speech under a variety of circumstances. A key challenge has been to develop paradigms that enable the complementary measurement of subjective listening effort in a quantitatively precise manner. In this study, we introduce a novel decision-making paradigm to examine age-related and individual differences in subjective effort during listening. Method Older and younger adults were presented with spoken sentences mixed with speech-shaped noise at multiple signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). On each trial, subjects were offered the choice between completing an easier listening trial (presented at +20 dB SNR) for a smaller monetary reward and completing a harder listening trial (presented at either +4, 0, −4, −8, or −12 dB SNR) for a greater monetary reward. By varying the amount of the reward offered for the easier option, the subjective value of performing effortful listening trials at each SNR could be assessed. Results Older adults discounted the value of effortful listening to a greater degree than young adults, opting to accept less money in order to avoid more difficult SNRs. Additionally, older adults with poorer hearing and smaller working memory capacities were more likely to choose easier trials; however, in younger adults, no relationship with hearing or working memory was found. Self-reported measures of economic status did not affect these relationships. Conclusions These findings suggest that subjective listening effort depends on factors including, but not necessarily limited to, hearing and working memory. Additionally, this study demonstrates that economic decision-making paradigms can be a useful approach for assessing subjective listening effort and may prove beneficial in future research.

scholarly journals Adult age differences in the effects of processing on storage in working memory: A meta-analysis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka J Jaroslawska ◽  
Stephen Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Age Related

Normal adult aging is known to be associated with lower performance on tasks assessing the short-term storage of information. However, whether or not there are additional age-related deficits associated with concurrent storage and processing demands within working memory remains unclear. Methodological differences across studies are considered critical factors responsible for the variability in the magnitude of the reported age effects. Here we synthesized comparisons of younger and older adults' performance on tasks measuring storage alone against those combining storage with concurrent processing of information. We also considered the influence of task-related moderator variables. Meta-analysis of effect sizes revealed a small but disproportionate effect of processing on older adults' memory performance. Moderator analysis indicated that equating single task storage performance across age groups (titration) and the nature of the stimulus material were important determinants of memory accuracy. Titration of storage task difficulty was found to lead to smaller, and non-significant, age-differences in dual task costs. These results were corroborated by supplementary Brinley and state-trace analyses. We discuss these findings in relation to the extant literature and current working memory theory as well as possibilities for future research to address the residual heterogeneity in effect sizes.

scholarly journals Spontaneous Eye Blinks Predict Executive Functioning in Seniors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessika I. V. Buitenweg ◽  
Jaap M. J. Murre ◽  
K. Richard Ridderinkhof
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Functional Decline ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Blink Rate ◽  
Memory Updating ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Working Memory Updating

AbstractAs the world’s population is aging rapidly, cognitive training is an extensively used approach to attempt improvement of age-related cognitive functioning. With increasing numbers of older adults required to remain in the workforce, it is important to be able to reliably predict future functional decline, as well as the individual advantages of cognitive training. Given the correlation between age-related decline and striatal dopaminergic function, we investigated whether eye blink rate (EBR), a non-invasive, indirect indicator of dopaminergic activity, could predict executive functioning (response inhibition, switching and working memory updating) as well as trainability of executive functioning in older adults. EBR was collected before and after a cognitive flexibility training, cognitive training without flexibility, or a mock training. EBR predicted working memory updating performance on two measures of updating, as well as trainability of working memory updating, whereas performance and trainability in inhibition and switching tasks could not be predicted by EBR. Our findings tentatively indicate that EBR permits prediction of working memory performance in older adults. To fully interpret the relationship with executive functioning, we suggest future research should assess both EBR and dopamine receptor availability among seniors.

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 ANGER, LOVE, SADNESS: DO EMOTION WORDS HAVE THE SAME SEMANTIC MEANING ACROSS AGE-GROUPS?

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S841-S842
Author(s):  
Madeline J Nichols ◽  
Jennifer A Bellingtier ◽  
Frances Buttelmann
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Semantic Meaning ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Emotion Words ◽  
Emotion Word ◽  
Age Related

Abstract Every day we use emotion words to describe our experiences, but past research finds that the meanings of these words can vary. Furthermore, historical shifts in language use and experiential knowledge of the emotions may contribute to age-differences in what these emotion words convey. We examined age-related differences in the valence, arousal, and expression connoted by the words anger, love, and sadness. We predicted age-related differences in the semantic meanings of the words would emerge such that older adults would more clearly differentiate the positivity/negativity of the words, whereas younger adults would report higher endorsement for the conveyed arousal and expression. Participants included American and German older adults (N=61; mean age=68.98) and younger adults (N=77; mean age=20.77). Using the GRID instrument (Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, 2013), they rated each emotion word for its valence, arousal, and expression when used by a speaker of the participant’s native language. Across emotions and dimensions, older adults were generally more moderate in their understanding of emotion words. For example, German older adults rated anger and sadness as suggesting the speaker felt less bad and more good than the younger adults. American older adults rated love as connoting the speaker felt more bad and less good than younger adults. Arousal ratings were higher for German younger, as opposed to older, adults. Cultural differences were most pronounced for sadness such that German participants gave more moderate answers than American participants. Overall, our research suggests that there are age-related differences in the understanding of emotion words.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document