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.

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

Inferences and Confidence in Warning Texts: The Role of Age and Prior Knowledge

2007 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne E. Adams ◽  
Wendy A. Rogers ◽  
Arthur D. Fisk
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Text Passage

Understanding warnings is important, regardless if prior knowledge with respect to such information exists. The goal of the current study was to investigate younger and older adults' ability to draw inferences under different conditions of prior knowledge, and how confident participants were about their decisions. Participants read two-sentence text passages, which either resembled real warnings (real) or were the opposite of real warnings (reversed). Participants evaluated whether information in a given statement was consistent (true) or inconsistent (false) with information given in a text passage. Statements either repeated information explicitly or implied in the text passage. Participants also rated their confidence in the correctness of their answer. Data showed no age-related differences in accuracy when the text passages resembled real warnings. When text passages were reversed, older adults were less accurate than younger adults, yet more confident when inferences were required.

Aging, Attention, and Bimanual Coordination

2002 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 549-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy D. Lee ◽  
Laurie R. Wishart ◽  
Jason E. Murdoch
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Bimanual Coordination ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Digit Number ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Movement Frequency ◽  
Effects Of Aging ◽  
Coordination Patterns

ABSTRACTAlthough aging is normally associated with declines in motor performance, recent evidence suggests that older adults suffer no loss in some measures of bimanual coordination relative to younger adults. Two hypotheses for this finding were compared in the present research. One hypothesis was based on the assumption that these coordination patterns are automatic and relatively impervious to the effects of aging. An alternative explanation is that older adults maintain this level of bimanual coordination at a cost of increased attention demand. These hypotheses were tested in an experiment in which bimanual coordination patterns (in-phase and anti-phase) were paced at two metronome frequencies (1 and 2 Hz), either alone or together, with serial performance of an attention-demanding task (adding 3s to a two-digit number at a 1 Hz pace). The results of the study provided some support for both hypotheses. The automaticity view was supported only for the coordination patterns at the 1 Hz metronome frequency. Support for an attention allocation hypothesis was shown in the observed-movement frequency data, as older adults tended to sacrifice movement frequency at the 2 Hz metronome pace in order to maintain performance in the movement and counting tasks. These findings are discussed relative to recent accounts of the role of automaticity in the absence of age-related differences in the performance of cognitive tasks.

Examining Positivity Effect and Working Memory in Young-Old and Very Old Adults Using EEG-Derived Cognitive State Metrics

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (10) ◽  
pp. 1014-1035
Author(s):  
Joelle C. Ruthig ◽  
Dmitri P. Poltavski ◽  
Thomas Petros
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Cognitive State ◽  
Emotional Stimuli ◽  
Very Old ◽  
Positivity Effect ◽  
Old Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Young Old

The positivity effect among older adults is a tendency to process more positive and/or less negative emotional stimuli compared to younger adults, with unknown upper age boundaries. Cognitive and emotional working memory were assessed in young-old adults (60–75) and very old adults (VOAs; 80+) to determine whether emotional working memory declines similar to the age-related decline of cognitive working memory. The moderating role of valence on the link between age and emotional working memory was examined to identify change in positivity effect with advanced age. Electroencephalography (EEG) markers of cognitive workload and engagement were obtained to test the theory of cognitive resource allocation in older adults’ emotional stimuli processing. EEG recordings were collected during cognitive memory task and emotional working memory tasks that required rating emotional intensity of images pairs. Results indicate a positivity effect among VOAs that does not require additional cognitive effort and is not likely to diminish with age.

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 Amphetamine modulates brain signal variability and working memory in younger and older adults

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (24) ◽  
pp. 7593-7598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas D. Garrett ◽  
Irene E. Nagel ◽  
Claudia Preuschhof ◽  
Agnieszka Z. Burzynska ◽  
Janina Marchner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽  
Brain Dynamics ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level ◽  
Age Related ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Signal Variability

Better-performing younger adults typically express greater brain signal variability relative to older, poorer performers. Mechanisms for age and performance-graded differences in brain dynamics have, however, not yet been uncovered. Given the age-related decline of the dopamine (DA) system in normal cognitive aging, DA neuromodulation is one plausible mechanism. Hence, agents that boost systemic DA [such as d-amphetamine (AMPH)] may help to restore deficient signal variability levels. Furthermore, despite the standard practice of counterbalancing drug session order (AMPH first vs. placebo first), it remains understudied how AMPH may interact with practice effects, possibly influencing whether DA up-regulation is functional. We examined the effects of AMPH on functional-MRI–based blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal variability (SDBOLD) in younger and older adults during a working memory task (letter n-back). Older adults expressed lower brain signal variability at placebo, but met or exceeded young adult SDBOLD levels in the presence of AMPH. Drug session order greatly moderated change–change relations between AMPH-driven SDBOLD and reaction time means (RTmean) and SDs (RTSD). Older adults who received AMPH in the first session tended to improve in RTmean and RTSD when SDBOLD was boosted on AMPH, whereas younger and older adults who received AMPH in the second session showed either a performance improvement when SDBOLD decreased (for RTmean) or no effect at all (for RTSD). The present findings support the hypothesis that age differences in brain signal variability reflect aging-induced changes in dopaminergic neuromodulation. The observed interactions among AMPH, age, and session order highlight the state- and practice-dependent neurochemical basis of human brain dynamics.

scholarly journals Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Genotype Affects Age-Related Changes in Plasticity in Working Memory: A Pilot Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Heinzel ◽  
Thomas G. Riemer ◽  
Stefanie Schulte ◽  
Johanna Onken ◽  
Andreas Heinz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Behavioral Plasticity ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Dopamine Metabolism ◽  
Comt Genotype ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Age Related Changes

Objectives. Recent work suggests that a genetic variation associated with increased dopamine metabolism in the prefrontal cortex (catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met; COMT) amplifies age-related changes in working memory performance. Research on younger adults indicates that the influence of dopamine-related genetic polymorphisms on working memory performance increases when testing the cognitive limits through training. To date, this has not been studied in older adults.Method. Here we investigate the effect of COMT genotype on plasticity in working memory in a sample of 14 younger (aged 24–30 years) and 25 older (aged 60–75 years) healthy adults. Participants underwent adaptive training in then-back working memory task over 12 sessions under increasing difficulty conditions.Results. Both younger and older adults exhibited sizeable behavioral plasticity through training (P<.001), which was larger in younger as compared to older adults (P<.001). Age-related differences were qualified by an interaction with COMT genotype (P<.001), and this interaction was due to decreased behavioral plasticity in older adults carrying the Val/Val genotype, while there was no effect of genotype in younger adults.Discussion. Our findings indicate that age-related changes in plasticity in working memory are critically affected by genetic variation in prefrontal dopamine metabolism.

scholarly journals Older adults benefit from more widespread brain network integration during working memory

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.A. Crowell ◽  
S.W. Davis ◽  
L. Beynel ◽  
L. Deng ◽  
D. Lakhlani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Aging Brain ◽  
Network Integration ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Cortical Regions

AbstractNeuroimaging evidence suggests that the aging brain relies on a more distributed set of cortical regions than younger adults in order to maintain successful levels of performance during demanding cognitive tasks. However, it remains unclear how task demands give rise to this age-related expansion in cortical networks. To investigate this issue, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure univariate activity, network connectivity, and cognitive performance in younger and older adults during a working memory (WM) task. In the WM task investigated, participants hold letters online (maintenance) while reordering them alphabetically (manipulation). WM load was titrated to obtain four individualized difficulty levels. Network integration—defined as the ratio of within-versus between-network connectivity—was linked to individual differences in WM capacity. The study yielded three main findings. First, as task difficulty increased, network integration decreased in younger adults, whereas it increased in older adults. Second, age-related increases in network integration were driven by increases in right hemispheric connectivity to both left and right cortical regions, a finding that helps to reconcile extant theories of compensatory recruitment in aging to address the multivariate dynamics of global network functioning. Lastly, older adults with higher WM capacity demonstrated higher levels of network integration in the most difficult condition. These results shed light on the mechanisms of age-related network reorganization by suggesting that changes in network connectivity may act as an adaptive form of compensation, with older adults recruiting a more distributed cortical network as task demands increase.Significance statementOlder adults often activate brain regions not engaged by younger adults, but the circumstances under which this widespread network emerges are unclear. Here, we examined the effects of aging on network connectivity between task regions recruited during a working memory (WM) manipulation task, and the rest of the brain. We found an age-related increase in the more global network integration in older adults, and an association between this integration and working memory capacity in older adults. The findings are generally consistent with the compensatory interpretation of these effects.

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.

scholarly journals Child-Like Adults: Dual-Task Effects on Collective vs. Distributive Sentence Interpretations

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna M. B. de Koster ◽  
Petra Hendriks ◽  
Jennifer K. Spenader
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Conversational Implicature ◽  
Recent Proposal ◽  
Task Effects ◽  
Collective Preference ◽  
Memory Resources

In this work, we consider a recent proposal that claims that the preferred interpretation of sentences containing definite plural expressions, such as “The boys are building a snowman,” is not determined by semantic composition but is pragmatically derived via an implicature. Plural expressions can express that each member of a group acts individually (distributive interpretation) or that the group acts together (collective interpretation). While adults prefer collective interpretations for sentences that are not explicitly marked for distributivity by the distributive marker each, children do not show this preference. One explanation is that the adult collective preference for definite plurals arises due to a conversational implicature. If implicature calculation requires memory resources, children may fail to calculate the implicature due to memory limitations. This study investigated whether loading Dutch-speaking adults' working memory, using a dual task, would elicit more child-like distributive interpretations, as would be predicted by the implicature account. We found that loading WM in adults did lead to response patterns more similar to children. We discuss whether our results offer a plausible explanation for children's development of an understanding of distributivity and how our results relate to recent debates on the role of cognitive resources in implicature calculation.

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