Multitasking in aging: ERP correlates of dual-task costs in young versus low, intermediate, and high performing older adults
Abstract With large inter-individual variability, older adults show a decline in cognitive performance in dual-task situations. Differences in attentional processes, working memory, response selection, and general speed of information processing have been discussed as potential sources of this decline and its between-subject variability. In comparison to young subjects (n = 36, mean age: 25 years), we analyzed the performance of a large group of healthy elderly subjects (n = 138, mean age: 70 years) in a conflicting dual-task situation (PRP paradigm). Based on their dual-task costs (DTCs), the older participants were clustered in three groups of high, medium, and low performing elderly. DTC…
Stroop task performance across the lifespan: High cognitive reserve in older age is associated with enhanced proactive and reactive interference control
Abstract Susceptibility to interference increases with age but there is large inter-individual variability in interference control in older adults due to a number of biological and environmental factors. The present study aims at analyzing behavior and ERPs in a Stroop interference task with increasing difficulty in a sample of 246 young, middle-aged and healthy old participants. The old age group was divided into three subgroups based on performance scores. The results show a gradual performance reduction with increasing age and task difficulty. However, old high performers reached a performance level comparable to middle-aged subjects. The contingent negative variation (CNV) reflecting pr…
Time Hurries on but Does not Fly in Older Age — No Effect of Depressive Symptoms
Abstract Research on the commonly known phenomenon of perceived accelerated time passage with increasing age has provided inconsistent results. This could be due to a mediating time-slowing effect of depressive symptoms as the prevalence of depression does also alter with age. Based on a large sample of 380 subjects covering a continuous range of age between 20 and 70 years, we tested whether the assumed age-related effect on time perception is being mediated by symptoms of depression. Cross-sectional differences indicate a weak, but significant nonlinear acceleration of the perceived passage of time especially during mid-adulthood, whereas no further alteration was observed above the age o…