Research article summary (published 29 Apr 2007):

Executive functions in normal aging: an examination of script sequencing, script sorting, and script monitoring.

Full Abstract

We explored the effect of age on executive functions by using script-sequencing and script-sorting tasks. Older participants (n = 39), relative to young subjects (n = 40), committed more errors in script sequencing. However, there was no difference in performance between elderly and young subjects in excluding irrelevant items. These results suggest that aging generates impairment in the ability to produce temporally coherent sequences without deficit in the ability to eliminate distractors in the action domain. We proposed that the sequencing difficulties in elderly participants could be due to working-memory and shifting deficits mediated by changes in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

Author information

Author/s: Allain, Philippe (P); Berrut, Gilles (G); Etcharry-Bouyx, Frédérique (F); Barré, Jean (J); Dubas, Frédéric (F); Le Gall, Didier (D);

Affiliation: Laboratory of Psychology, University of Angers, France. PhAllain(-atsign-)chu-angers.fr

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences (J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-May; vol 62 (issue 3) : pp P187-90

Dates: Created 2007/05/17; Completed 2007/06/20;

PMID: 17507587, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult Aged Aging - physiology Attention - physiology Female Humans Inhibition (Psychology)

Male Mental Recall - physiology Neuropsychological Tests Prefrontal Cortex - physiology Problem Solving - physiology Reference Values Serial Learning - physiology

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