Reduced Attentional Control in Older Adults Leads to Deficits in Flexible Prioritization of Visual Working Memory.

ABSTRACT: Visual working memory (VWM) resources have been shown to be flexibly distributed according to item priority. This flexible allocation of resources may depend on attentional control, an executive function known to decline with age. In this study, we sought to determine how age differences in attentional control affect VWM performance when attention is flexibly allocated amongst targets of varying priority. Participants performed a delayed-recall task wherein item priority was varied. Error was modelled using a three-component mixture model to probe different aspects of performance (precision, guess-rate, and non-target errors). The flexible resource model offered a good fit to the data from both age groups, but older adults showed consistently lower precision and higher guess rates. Importa

SUBMITTER: Henderson SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7466080 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature