Research article summary (published 30 Mar 2006):

Reduced suppression or labile memory? Mechanisms of inefficient filtering of irrelevant information in older adults.

Full Abstract

Cognitive aging theories emphasize the decrease in efficiency of inhibitory processes and attention control in normal aging, which, in turn, may result in reduction of working memory function. Accordingly, some of these age-related changes may be due to faster sensory memory decay or to inefficient filtering of irrelevant sensory information (sensory gating). Here, event-related brain potentials and the event-related optical signal were recorded in younger and older adults passively listening to tone trains. To determine whether age differentially affects decay of sensory memory templates over short intervals, trains were separated by delays of either 1 or 5 sec. To determine whether age affects the suppression of responses to unattended repeated stimuli, we evaluated the brain activity elicited by successive train stimuli. Some trains started with a shorter-duration stimulus (deviant trains). Results showed that both electrical and optical responses to tones were more persistent with repeated stimulation in older adults than in younger adults, whereas the effects of delay were similar in the two groups. A mismatch negativity (MMN) was elicited by the first stimulus in deviant trains. This MMN was larger for 1- than 5-sec delay, but did not differ across groups. These data suggest that age-related changes in sensory processing are likely due to inefficient filtering of repeated information, rather than to faster sensory memory decay. This inefficient filtering may be due to, or interact with, reduced attention control. Furthermore, it may increase the noise levels in the information processing system and thus contribute to problems with working memory and speed of processing.

Author information

Author/s: Fabiani, Monica (M); Low, Kathy A (KA); Wee, Emily (E); Sable, Jeffrey J (JJ); Gratton, Gabriele (G);

Affiliation: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL 61801, USA. mfabiani(-atsign-)uiuc.edu

Grants: AG21887 (Agency:NIA NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of cognitive neuroscience (J Cogn Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Apr; vol 18 (issue 4) : pp 637-50

Dates: Created 2006/06/13; Completed 2006/09/14; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 16768366, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Acoustic Stimulation - methods Adult Age Factors Aged Brain - anatomy & histology; physiology Brain Mapping Contingent Negative Variation - physiology; radiation effects Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation Electroencephalography - methods Evoked Potentials, Auditory - physiology

Evoked Potentials, Auditory - physiology Female Geriatric Assessment Humans Male Memory - physiology Mental Processes - physiology Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data Reaction Time - physiology; radiation effects Repression

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