Dataset Information

Increased Early Processing of Task-Irrelevant Auditory Stimuli in Older Adults.

ABSTRACT: The inhibitory deficit hypothesis of cognitive aging posits that older adults' inability to adequately suppress processing of irrelevant information is a major source of cognitive decline. Prior research has demonstrated that in response to task-irrelevant auditory stimuli there is an age-associated increase in the amplitude of the N1 wave, an ERP marker of early perceptual processing. Here, we tested predictions derived from the inhibitory deficit hypothesis that the age-related increase in N1 would be 1) observed under an auditory-ignore, but not auditory-attend condition, 2) attenuated in individuals with high executive capacity (EC), and 3) augmented by increasing cognitive load of the primary visual task. ERPs were measured in 114 well-matched young, middle-aged, young-old, and old-old adults, designated as having high or average EC based on neuropsychological testing. Under the auditory-ignore (visual-attend) task, participants ignored auditory stimuli and responded to rare target letters under low and high load. Under the auditory-attend task, participants ignored visual stimuli and responded to rare target tones. Results confirmed an age-associated increase in N1 amplitude to auditory stimuli under the auditory-ignore but not auditory-attend task. Contrary to predictions, EC did not modulate the N1 response. The load effect was the opposite of expectation: the N1 to task-irrelevant auditory events was smaller under high load. Finally, older adults did not simply fail to suppress the N1 to auditory stimuli in the task-irrelevant modality; they generated a larger response than to identical stimuli in the task-relevant modality. In summary, several of the study's findings do not fit the inhibitory-deficit hypothesis of cognitive aging, which may need to be refined or supplemented by alternative accounts.

SUBMITTER: Tusch ES

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5091907 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Increased Early Processing of Task-Irrelevant Auditory Stimuli in Older Adults.

Tusch Erich S ES Alperin Brittany R BR Holcomb Phillip J PJ Daffner Kirk R KR

PloS one 20161102 11

The inhibitory deficit hypothesis of cognitive aging posits that older adults' inability to adequately suppress processing of irrelevant information is a major source of cognitive decline. Prior research has demonstrated that in response to task-irrelevant auditory stimuli there is an age-associated increase in the amplitude of the N1 wave, an ERP marker of early perceptual processing. Here, we tested predictions derived from the inhibitory deficit hypothesis that the age-related increase in N1 ...[more]

PMID: 27806081

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Project description:BackgroundSome evidence suggests that young adults exhibit a selective laterality of auditory brainstem response (ABR) elicited with speech stimuli. Little is known about such an auditory laterality in older adults.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate possible asymmetric auditory brainstem processing between right and left ear presentation in older adults.MethodsSixty-two older adults presenting with normal hearing thresholds according to their age and who were native speakers of Quebec French participated in this study. ABR was recorded using click and a 40-ms /da/ syllable. ABR was elicited through monaural right and monaural left stimulation. Latency and amplitude for click-and speech-ABR components were compared between right and left ear presentations. In addition, for the /da/ syllable, a fast Fourier transform analysis of the sustained frequency-following response (FFR) of the vowel was performed along with stimulus-to-response and right-left ear correlation analyses.ResultsNo significant differences between right and left ear presentation were found for amplitudes and latencies of the click-ABR components. Significantly shorter latencies for right ear presentation as compared to left ear presentation were observed for onset and offset transient components (V, A and O), sustained components (D and E), and voiced transition components (C) of the speech-ABR. In addition, the spectral amplitude of the fundamental frequency (F0) was significantly larger for the left ear presentation than the right ear presentation.ConclusionsResults of this study show that older adults with normal hearing exhibit symmetric encoding for click stimuli at the brainstem level between the right and left ear presentation. However, they present with brainstem asymmetries for the encoding of selective stimulus components of the speech-ABR between the right and left ear presentation. The right ear presentation of a /da/ syllable elicited reduced neural timing for both transient and sustained components compared to the left ear. Conversely, a stronger left ear F0 encoding was observed. These findings suggest that at a preattentive, sensory stage of auditory processing, older adults lateralize speech stimuli similarly to young adults.

Dataset Information

Increased Early Processing of Task-Irrelevant Auditory Stimuli in Older Adults.

Publications

Increased Early Processing of Task-Irrelevant Auditory Stimuli in Older Adults.

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