Brain GABA Levels Are Associated with Inhibitory Control Deficits in Older Adults

Findings regarding the relation between naming and inhibition among older adults is limited. We posited inhibitory control is crucial for successful naming and tested its role in older adults by exaggerating its effects. Participants included 215 older adults aged 55-89 years, categorized as “good” or ”poor” namers, based on confrontation naming scores. Via a computerized speeded picture-naming test (SNT), we induced intrusions. We then determined the distance between the source for the intruding word and the current item. Performance on traditional neuropsychological tests of inhibition was also assessed. Results revealed that poorer namers had more intrusions on the SNT than better namers, and their intrusions lingered through more stimuli. This suggests that poorer namers experienced greater retrieval inhibition difficulties than better namers. Performance on neuropsychological tests of inhibition also discriminated between better and poorer namers. In conclusion, successful naming among older adults appears to rely heavily on maintaining inhibitory abilities.***Efeitos da inibição na nomeação no envelhecimento***Os achados sobre a relação entre nomeação e inibição entre os idosos são limitados. Nós postulamos que o controle inibitório é crucial para a nomeação bem-sucedida e testamos seu papel em idosos, exagerando seus efeitos. Os participantes foram 215 idosos com idades entre 55-89 anos, categorizados como "bons" ou "pobres" nomeadores, com base em pontuações de nomeação. Através de um teste computadorizado de nomeação de imagens (SNT), induzimos intrusões. Determinamos então a distância entre a fonte da palavra intrusa e o item atual. O desempenho em testes neuropsicológicos tradicionais de inibição também foi avaliado. Os resultados revelaram que os mais nomeadores “pobres” tiveram mais intrusões no SNT do que os “bons”, e suas intrusões permaneceram através de mais estímulos. Isso sugere que os nomeadores mais pobres experimentaram maiores dificuldades de inibição de recuperação do que os melhores nomeadores. O desempenho em testes neuropsicológicos de inibição também discriminou entre nomeadores melhores e mais pobres. Concluindo, a nomeação bem-sucedida entre os adultos mais velhos parece depender muito da manutenção de habilidades inibitórias.

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The Effect of Bilingualism on Older Adults’ Inhibitory Control: A Meta-Analysis

The Gerontologist ◽

10.1093/geront/gnz086 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Bonnie A Armstrong ◽

Natalie Ein ◽

Brenda I Wong ◽

Sara N Gallant ◽

Lingqian Li

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Individual Characteristics ◽

Bilingual Advantage ◽

The Individual ◽

Meta Analyses ◽

Design And Methods

AbstractBackground and ObjectivesThe effect bilingualism has on older adults’ inhibitory control has been extensively investigated, yet there is continued controversy regarding whether older adult bilinguals show superior inhibitory control compared with monolinguals. The objective of the current meta-analysis was to examine the reliability and magnitude of the bilingualism effect on older adults’ inhibitory control as measured by the Simon and Stroop tasks. In addition, we examined whether individual characteristics moderate the bilingual advantage in inhibition, including age (young–old vs old–old), age of second language acquisition, immigrant status, language proficiency, and frequency of language use.Research Design and MethodsA total of 22 samples for the Simon task and 14 samples for the Stroop task were derived from 28 published and unpublished articles (32 independent samples, with 4 of these samples using more than 1 task) and were analyzed in 2 separate meta-analyses.ResultsAnalyses revealed a reliable effect of bilingualism on older adults’ performance on the Simon (g = 0.60) and Stroop (g = 0.27) tasks. Interestingly, individual characteristics did not moderate the association between bilingualism and older adults’ inhibitory control.Discussion and ImplicationsThe results suggest there is a bilingual advantage in inhibitory control for older bilinguals compared with older monolinguals, regardless of the individual characteristics previously thought to moderate this effect. Based on these findings, bilingualism may protect inhibitory control from normal cognitive decline with age.

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Neurometabolic Correlates of Reactive and Proactive Motor Inhibition in Young and Older Adults: Evidence from Multiple Regional 1H-MR Spectroscopy

Cerebral Cortex Communications ◽

10.1093/texcom/tgaa028 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Akila Weerasekera ◽

Oron Levin ◽

Amanda Clauwaert ◽

Kirstin-Friederike Heise ◽

Lize Hermans ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Proactive Inhibition ◽

Older Age ◽

Resonance Spectroscopy ◽

Reactive Inhibition ◽

Age Related ◽

The Right ◽

Age Range

Abstract Suboptimal inhibitory control is a major factor contributing to motor/cognitive deficits in older age and pathology. Here, we provide novel insights into the neurochemical biomarkers of inhibitory control in healthy young and older adults and highlight putative neurometabolic correlates of deficient inhibitory functions in normal aging. Age-related alterations in levels of glutamate–glutamine complex (Glx), N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (Cho), and myo-inositol (mIns) were assessed in the right inferior frontal gyrus (RIFG), pre-supplementary motor area (preSMA), bilateral sensorimotor cortex (SM1), bilateral striatum (STR), and occipital cortex (OCC) with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS). Data were collected from 30 young (age range 18–34 years) and 29 older (age range 60–74 years) adults. Associations between age-related changes in the levels of these metabolites and performance measures or reactive/proactive inhibition were examined for each age group. Glx levels in the right striatum and preSMA were associated with more efficient proactive inhibition in young adults but were not predictive for reactive inhibition performance. Higher NAA/mIns ratios in the preSMA and RIFG and lower mIns levels in the OCC were associated with better deployment of proactive and reactive inhibition in older adults. Overall, these findings suggest that altered regional concentrations of NAA and mIns constitute potential biomarkers of suboptimal inhibitory control in aging.

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The Context of Caution: An Examination of Age, Social Context, and Sex on Measures of Inhibitory Control and Risky Decision-Making

The International Journal of Aging and Human Development ◽

10.1177/0091415019836100 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 90 (1) ◽

pp. 84-103 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Raquel A. Cowell ◽

Elizabeth R. Paitel ◽

Sierra Peters

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Decision Making ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Flanker Task ◽

Adult Males ◽

Risky Decision ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Attentional Processes ◽

Main Effect ◽

Comparable Accuracy

Understanding how older adults successfully navigate complex choices like driving requires the consideration of processing speed, inhibitory control, attentional processes, and risk management, and the context within which these decisions occur. The current study employed the Flanker task, the Stoplight task, and a personality inventory with 43 younger adults and 49 older adults either while they were alone or being observed by two same-sex, similarly aged peers. On the Flanker task, older adults performed more slowly, but with comparable accuracy. On the Stoplight task, there was a significant main effect of Context, and an Age-Group by Sex interaction, even after controlling for response time: All groups had a greater number of crashes when alone, and young adult males had significantly more crashes than any other group. These results emphasize the importance of considering the broader context of decision-making.

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Effects of age on inhibitory control are affected by task-specific features

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1080/17470218.2017.1311352 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 71 (5) ◽

pp. 1219-1233 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Angela de Bruin ◽

Sergio Della Sala

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Processing Speed ◽

Simon Task ◽

Flanker Task ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Age Effects ◽

Control Task ◽

Younger Adults

Older adults have been argued to have impoverished inhibitory control compared to younger adults. However, these effects of age may depend on processing speed and their manifestation may furthermore depend on the type of inhibitory control task that is used. We present two experiments that examine age effects on inhibition across three tasks: a Simon arrow, static flanker and motion flanker task. The results showed overall slower reaction times (RTs) for older adults on all three tasks. However, effects of age on inhibition costs were only found for the Simon task, but not for the two flanker tasks. The motion flanker task furthermore showed an effect of baseline processing speed on the relation between age and inhibition costs. Older adults with slower baseline responses showed smaller inhibition costs, suggesting they were affected less by the flanker items than faster older adults. These findings suggest that effects of age on inhibition are task dependent and can be modulated by task-specific features such as the type of interference, type of stimuli and processing speed.

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Inhibitory control underlies individual differences in older adults’ hindsight bias.

Psychology and Aging ◽

10.1037/pag0000088 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 31 (3) ◽

pp. 224-238 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Alisha Coolin ◽

Edgar Erdfelder ◽

Daniel M. Bernstein ◽

Allen E. Thornton ◽

Wendy Loken Thornton

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Individual Differences ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Hindsight Bias

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Inhibitory control and its relationship to positivity biases in older adults

10.31234/osf.io/z6mhy ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Caoimhe McManus ◽

David McGovern

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Recognition Memory ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Negative Information ◽

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory ◽

Positive Information ◽

Active Suppression ◽

Positivity Effect ◽

Socioemotional Selectivity ◽

Age Related

Older adults tend to focus on positive information over negative information; a phenomenon commonly referred to as the ‘positivity effect’. Socioemotional Selectivity Theory posits that this effect stems from age-related shifts in goals and relies heavily on the active suppression of negative information. The current study tested the hypothesis that inhibitory control is a key determinant of positivity biases in older adults using anti-saccade and recognition memory tasks. Results indicated a significant correlation between levels of inhibitory control and the positivity effect. These findings highlight the key role played by inhibitory control in determining positivity biases amongst older adults.

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Receptive Vocabulary, Cognitive Flexibility, and Inhibitory Control Differentially Predict Older and Younger Adults' Success Perceiving Speech by Talkers With Dysarthria

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2017_jslhr-h-17-0119 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 60 (12) ◽

pp. 3632-3641 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Erin M. Ingvalson ◽

Kaitlin L. Lansford ◽

Valeriya Fedorova ◽

Gabriel Fernandez

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Cognitive Flexibility ◽

Executive Control ◽

Receptive Vocabulary ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Control Functions ◽

Hearing Acuity ◽

Dysarthric Speech ◽

Intelligibility Ratings

Purpose Previous research has demonstrated equivocal findings related to the effect of listener age on intelligibility ratings of dysarthric speech. The aim of the present study was to investigate the mechanisms that support younger and older adults' perception of speech by talkers with dysarthria. Method Younger and older adults identified words in phrases produced by talkers with dysarthria. Listeners also completed assessments on peripheral hearing, receptive vocabulary, and executive control functions. Results Older and younger adults did not differ in their ability to perceive speech by talkers with dysarthria. Younger adults' success in identifying words produced by talkers with dysarthria was associated only with their hearing acuity. In contrast, older adults showed effects of working memory and cognitive flexibility and interactions between hearing acuity and receptive vocabulary and between hearing acuity and inhibitory control. Conclusions Although older and younger adults had equivalent performance identifying words produced by talkers with dysarthria, older adults appear to utilize more cognitive support to identify those words.

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Cognitive consequences of trilingualism

International Journal of Bilingualism ◽

10.1177/1367006916637288 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 21 (6) ◽

pp. 754-773 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Scott R Schroeder ◽

Viorica Marian

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Cognitive Abilities ◽

Cognitive Reserve ◽

Age Of Onset ◽

Infants And Toddlers ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Third Language ◽

Cognitive Plasticity ◽

Cognitive Consequences

Aims and objectives: The objectives of the present research were to examine the cognitive consequences of trilingualism and explain them relative to the cognitive consequences of bilingualism. Approach: A comparison of cognitive abilities in trilinguals and bilinguals was conducted. In addition, we proposed a cognitive plasticity framework to account for cognitive differences and similarities between trilinguals and bilinguals. Data and analysis: Three aspects of cognition were analyzed: (1) cognitive reserve in older adults, as measured by age of onset of Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment; (2) inhibitory control in children and younger adults, as measured by response times on behavioral Simon and flanker tasks; and (3) memory generalization in infants and toddlers, as measured by accuracy on behavioral deferred imitation tasks. Results were considered within a framework of cognitive plasticity, which took into account several factors that may affect plasticity including the age of learning a third language and the extent to which additional cognitive resources are needed to learn the third language. Findings: A mixed pattern of results was observed. In some cases, such as cognitive reserve in older adults, trilinguals showed larger advantages than did bilinguals. On other measures, for example inhibitory control in children and younger adults, trilinguals were found to exhibit the same advantages as bilinguals. In still other cases, such as memory generalization in infants and toddlers, trilinguals did not demonstrate the advantages seen in bilinguals. Originality: This study is the first comprehensive analysis of how learning a third language affects the cognitive abilities that are modified by bilingual experience, and the first to propose a cognitive plasticity framework that can explain and predict trilingual-bilingual differences. Significance: This research shows that the cognitive consequences of trilingualism are not simply an extension of bilingualism’s effects; rather, trilingualism has distinct consequences, with theoretical implications for our understanding of linguistic and cognitive processes and their plasticity, as well as applied-science implications for using second and third language learning in educational and rehabilitative contexts to foster successful cognitive development and aging.

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