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Age-related differences in the attentional white bear.

ABSTRACT: The cognitive aging literature suggests that aging populations exhibit impairments in the proactive inhibition of attention. Although proactive inhibition is often preceded by the allocation of attention toward the predicted or known spatial location of to-be-ignored stimuli, proactive allocation of attention has not been assessed in aging populations. In this study, an older and younger cohort engaged in the attentional-white-bear paradigm which measures proactive allocation of attention. In this task, on 80% of trials, participants must identify a centrally located letter surrounded by congruent or incongruent flanker letters. The flanker locations are fixed and predictable within each block of the study. On 20% of trials, they must identify which of two dots appear first on the screen. One dot appears in the same location as the flanker, and one appears in an empty location during the flanker task. The typical white-bear effect is that, despite the dots appearing at the same time, participants more often report the dot in the location of the flanker (i.e., the potentially to-be-ignored location) to appear first. The magnitude of this effect is interpreted as the magnitude of attentional allocation prior to inhibition. In Experiment 1, there was no difference in the magnitude of the attentional white bear between younger and aging cohorts. However, when the attentional system was sufficiently taxed by reducing the flanker presentation (Experiments 2a and 2b), age-related differences emerged. In particular, older participants showed a reduced white-bear effect, reflecting a potential impairment in the proactive allocation of attention toward the location of expected distractors.

SUBMITTER: Ashinoff BK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6864116 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Age-related differences in the attentional white bear.

Ashinoff Brandon K BK Tsal Yehoshua Y Mevorach Carmel C

Psychonomic bulletin & review 20191201 6

The cognitive aging literature suggests that aging populations exhibit impairments in the proactive inhibition of attention. Although proactive inhibition is often preceded by the allocation of attention toward the predicted or known spatial location of to-be-ignored stimuli, proactive allocation of attention has not been assessed in aging populations. In this study, an older and younger cohort engaged in the attentional-white-bear paradigm which measures proactive allocation of attention. In th ...[more]

PMID: 31183745

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Autism spectrum condition (ASC) is accompanied by developmental differences in brain anatomy and connectivity. White matter differences in ASC have been widely studied with diffusion imaging but results are heterogeneous and vary across the age range of study participants and varying methodological approaches. To characterize the neurodevelopmental trajectory of white matter maturation, it is necessary to examine a broad age range of individuals on the autism spectrum and typically developing controls, and investigate age × group interactions. METHODS:Here, we employed a spatially unbiased tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) approach to examine age-related differences in white matter connectivity in a sample of 41 individuals with ASC, and 41 matched controls between 7-17 years of age. RESULTS:We found significant age-related differences between the ASC and control group in widespread brain regions. This included age-related differences in the uncinate fasciculus, corticospinal tract, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, anterior thalamic radiation, superior longitudinal fasciculus and forceps major. Measures of fractional anisotropy (FA) were significantly positively associated with age in both groups. However, this relationship was significantly stronger in the ASC group relative to controls. Measures of radial diffusivity (RD) were significantly negatively associated with age in both groups, but this relationship was significantly stronger in the ASC group relative to controls. LIMITATIONS:The generalisability of our findings is limited by the restriction of the sample to right-handed males with an IQ > 70. Furthermore, a longitudinal design would be required to fully investigate maturational processes across this age group. CONCLUSIONS:Taken together, our findings suggest that autistic males have an altered trajectory of white matter maturation relative to controls. Future longitudinal analyses are required to further characterize the extent and time course of these differences.

Dataset Information

Age-related differences in the attentional white bear.

Publications

Age-related differences in the attentional white bear.

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