scholarly journals Effects of adults aging on word encoding in reading Chinese: evidence from disappearing text

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e2897
Author(s):  
Zhifang Liu ◽  
Yun Pan ◽  
Wen Tong ◽  
Nina Liu

The effect of aging on the process of word encoding for fixated words and words presented to the right of the fixation point during the reading of sentences in Chinese was investigated with two disappearing text experiments. The results of Experiment 1 showed that only the 40-ms onset disappearance of wordndisrupted young adults’ reading performance. However, for old readers, the disappearance of wordncaused disruptions until the onset time was 120 ms. The results of Experiment 2 showed that the disappearance of wordn + 1 did not cause disruptions to young adults, but these conditions made old readers spend more time reading a sentence compared to the normal display condition. These results indicated a reliable aging effect on the process of word encoding when reading Chinese, and that the encoding process in the preview frame was more susceptible to normal aging compared to that in the fixation frame. We propose that sensory, cognitive, and specific factors related to the Chinese language are important contributors to these age-related differences.

2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (01) ◽  
pp. 001-013 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Jerger ◽  
Rebecca Estes

We studied auditory evoked responses to the apparent movement of a burst of noise in the horizontal plane. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured in three groups of participants: children in the age range from 9 to 12 years, young adults in the age range from 18 to 34 years, and seniors in the age range from 65 to 80 years. The topographic distribution of grand-averaged ERP activity was substantially greater over the right hemisphere in children and seniors but slightly greater over the left hemisphere in young adults. This finding may be related to age-related differences in the extent to which judgments of sound movement are based on displacement versus velocity information.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tzvi Ganel ◽  
Melvyn A. Goodale

AbstractPrevious research has shown an unintuitive effect of facial expression on perceived age: smiling faces are perceived as older compared to neutral faces of the same people. The aging effect of smiling (AES), which is thought to result from the presence of smile-related wrinkles around the eyes, contradicts the common belief that smiling faces should be perceived as younger, not older. Previous research, however, has focused on faces of young adults, where the absence of inherent, age-related wrinkles and other age signs is offset by the weight of the smile-related wrinkles. In a series of experiments, we tested whether the AES extends to male and female faces in older age groups. We replicated the AES in young adults (20–39) and showed that it disappeared in older adults (60–79) of both genders. For photos of middle-aged adults (40–59), however, AES was found only for male, but not for female faces, who showed fewer and less prominent smile-related wrinkles. The results suggest that a person’s apparent age is perceived in a holistic manner in which age-related cues in the region of the eyes are weighted against age cues in other regions of the face.


2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 148-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Friedman ◽  
Ray Johnson

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.


Diabetes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 803-P
Author(s):  
SHIVANI AGARWAL ◽  
LAUREN KANAPKA ◽  
JENNIFER RAYMOND ◽  
ASHBY F. WALKER ◽  
ANDREA GERARD GONZALEZ ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra M Rodman ◽  
Katherine Powers ◽  
Catherine Insel ◽  
Erik K Kastman ◽  
Katherine Kabotyanski ◽  
...  

Adults titrate the degree of physical effort they are willing to expend according to the magnitude of reward they expect to obtain, a process guided by incentive motivation. However, it remains unclear whether adolescents, who are undergoing normative developmental changes in cognitive and reward processing, translate incentive motivation into action in a way that is similarly tuned to reward value and economical in effort utilization. The present study adapted a classic physical effort paradigm to quantify age-related changes in motivation-based and strategic markers of effort exertion for monetary rewards from adolescence to early adulthood. One hundred and three participants aged 12-23 years completed a task that involved exerting low or high amounts of physical effort, in the form of a hand grip, to earn low or high amounts of money. Adolescents and young adults exhibited highly similar incentive-modulated effort for reward according to measures of peak grip force and speed, suggesting that motivation for monetary reward is consistent across age. However, young adults expended energy more economically and strategically: whereas adolescents were prone to exert excess physical effort beyond what was required to earn reward, young adults were more likely to strategically prepare before each grip phase and conserve energy by opting out of low reward trials. This work extends theoretical models of development of incentive-driven behavior by demonstrating that layered on similarity in motivational value for monetary reward, there are important differences in the way behavior is flexibly adjusted in the presence of reward from adolescence to young adulthood.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron L. Slusher ◽  
Tiffany M. Zúñiga ◽  
Edmund O. Acevedo

Age-related elevations in proinflammatory cytokines, known as inflamm-aging, are associated with shorter immune cell telomere lengths. Purpose. This study examined the relationship of plasma PTX3 concentrations, a biomarker of appropriate immune function, with telomere length in 15 middle-aged (40-64 years) and 15 young adults (20-31 years). In addition, PBMCs were isolated from middle-aged and young adults to examine their capacity to express a key mechanistic component of telomere length maintenance, human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), following ex vivo cellular stimulation. Methods. Plasma PTX3 and inflammatory cytokines (i.e., IL-6, IL-10, TGF-β, and TNF-α), PBMC telomere lengths, and PBMC hTERT gene expression and inflammatory protein secretion following exposure to LPS, PTX3, and PTX3+LPS were measured. Results. Aging was accompanied by the accumulation of centrally located visceral adipose tissue, without changes in body weight and BMI, and alterations in the systemic inflammatory milieu (decreased plasma PTX3 and TGF-β; increased TNF-α (p≤0.050)). In addition, shorter telomere lengths in middle-aged compared to young adults (p=0.011) were negatively associated with age, body fat percentages, and plasma TNF-α (r=−0.404, p=0.027; r=−0.427, p=0.019; and r=−0.323, p=0.041, respectively). Finally, the capacity of PBMCs to increase hTERT gene expression following ex vivo stimulation was impaired in middle-aged compared to young adults (p=0.033) and negatively associated with telomere lengths (r=0.353, p=0.028). Conclusions. Proinflammation and the impaired hTERT gene expression capacity of PBMCs may contribute to age-related telomere attrition and disease.


Author(s):  
Monika Lewandowska ◽  
Rafał Milner ◽  
Małgorzata Ganc ◽  
Elżbieta Włodarczyk ◽  
Joanna Dołżycka ◽  
...  

AbstractThere are discrepancies in the literature regarding the course of central auditory processes (CAP) maturation in typically developing children and adolescents. The purpose of the study was to provide an overview of age – related improvement in CAP in Polish primary and secondary school students aged 7–16 years. 180 children/adolescents, subdivided into 9 age categories, and 20 adults (aged 18–24 years) performed the Dichotic Digit Test (DDT), Duration Pattern Test (DPT), Frequency Pattern Test (FPT), Gap Detection Test (GDT) and adaptive Speech-in-Noise (aSpN). The 12-year-olds was retested after w week. We found the age effects only for the DDT, DPT and FPT. In the right ear DDT the 7-year-olds performed more poorly than all groups ≥12. In the left ear DDT both 7- and 8-year-olds achieved less correct responses compared with the 13-, 14-, 15-year-olds and with the adults. The right ear advantage was greater in the 7-year-olds than in the 15-year-olds and adult group. At the age of 7 there was lower DPT and FPT scores than in all participants ≥13 whereas the 8-year-olds obtained less correct responses in the FPT than all age categories ≥12. Almost all groups (except for the 7-year-olds) performed better in the DPT than FPT. The test-retest reliability for all tests was satisfactory. The study demonstrated that different CAP have their own patterns of improvement with age and some of them are specific for the Polish population. The psychoacoustic battery may be useful in screening for CAP disorders in Poland.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 1665
Author(s):  
Guglielmina Chimienti ◽  
Anna Picca ◽  
Flavio Fracasso ◽  
Francesco Russo ◽  
Antonella Orlando ◽  
...  

Calorie restriction (CR) is the most efficacious treatment to delay the onset of age-related changes such as mitochondrial dysfunction. However, the sensitivity of mitochondrial markers to CR and the age-related boundaries of CR efficacy are not fully elucidated. We used liver samples from ad libitum-fed (AL) rats divided in: 18-month-old (AL-18), 28-month-old (AL-28), and 32-month-old (AL-32) groups, and from CR-treated (CR) 28-month-old (CR-28) and 32-month-old (CR-32) counterparts to assay the effect of CR on several mitochondrial markers. The age-related decreases in citrate synthase activity, in TFAM, MFN2, and DRP1 protein amounts and in the mtDNA content in the AL-28 group were prevented in CR-28 counterparts. Accordingly, CR reduced oxidative mtDNA damage assessed through the incidence of oxidized purines at specific mtDNA regions in CR-28 animals. These findings support the anti-aging effect of CR up to 28 months. Conversely, the protein amounts of LonP1, Cyt c, OGG1, and APE1 and the 4.8 Kb mtDNA deletion content were not affected in CR-28 rats. The absence of significant differences between the AL-32 values and the CR-32 counterparts suggests an age-related boundary of CR efficacy at this age. However, this only partially curtails the CR benefits in counteracting the generalized aging decline and the related mitochondrial involvement.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine R. Dobbs ◽  
Paula Embury ◽  
Emmily Koech ◽  
Sidney Ogolla ◽  
Stephen Munga ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Age-related changes in adaptive and innate immune cells have been associated with a decline in effective immunity and chronic, low-grade inflammation. Epigenetic, transcriptional, and functional changes in monocytes occur with aging, though most studies to date have focused on differences between young adults and the elderly in populations with European ancestry; few data exist regarding changes that occur in circulating monocytes during the first few decades of life or in African populations. We analyzed DNA methylation profiles, cytokine production, and inflammatory gene expression profiles in monocytes from young adults and children from western Kenya. Results We identified several hypo- and hyper-methylated CpG sites in monocytes from Kenyan young adults vs. children that replicated findings in the current literature of differential DNA methylation in monocytes from elderly persons vs. young adults across diverse populations. Differentially methylated CpG sites were also noted in gene regions important to inflammation and innate immune responses. Monocytes from Kenyan young adults vs. children displayed increased production of IL-8, IL-10, and IL-12p70 in response to TLR4 and TLR2/1 stimulation as well as distinct inflammatory gene expression profiles. Conclusions These findings complement previous reports of age-related methylation changes in isolated monocytes and provide novel insights into the role of age-associated changes in innate immune functions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan-Marie Harding ◽  
Narelle English ◽  
Nives Nibali ◽  
Patrick Griffin ◽  
Lorraine Graham ◽  
...  

Students who can regulate their own learning are proposed to gain the most out of education, yet research into the impact of self-regulated learning skills on performance shows mixed results. This study supports the link between self-regulated learning and performance, while providing evidence of grade- or age-related differences. Australian students from Grades 5 to 8 completed mathematics or reading comprehension assessments and self-regulated learning questionnaires, with each response ranked on a hierarchy of quality. All assessments were psychometrically analysed and validated. In each cohort and overall, higher performing students reported higher levels of self-regulated learning. Still, age-related differences outweighed performance differences, resulting in significantly lower reported usage of self-regulated learning skills in Grade 7 students compared to those in Grades 5, 6 and 8. These findings suggest that either age or school organisational differences mediate students’ self-regulated learning, counteracting ability-related associations.


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