title: Does cerebral activity change in middle-aged adults in a visual discrimination task?
abstract: The purpose of this study was to assess changes in cerebral activity in middle-aged adults (MA: 50 years) compared to young adults (YA: 20 years). Subjects had to compare the duration or the intensity of a visual stimulus with a previously memorized standard. Evoked potentials were recorded, and a dipole model (obtained from PET data on young adults) was applied for fitting late-latency components. MA performance was poorer than YA performance. Task-specific ERP late components were found (P3 in intensity, CNV in duration), but P3 had a lower amplitude and CNV was less frontal in MAs compared to YAs. The activity of the dipoles that generate late components - cuneus in the intensity task, right frontal in the duration task, and anterior cingulate in both tasks-was less ample or less peaked in MAs than in YAs. This study characterizes neurobiological effects of aging that may already be visible during midlife.
authors.affiliation: CNRS UPR 640, Neurosciences Cognitives et Imagerie Cérébrale, LENA, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, 47, BD de l'Hôpital, 75651, 13, Paris, Cedex, France. Anne-Marie.Ferrandez@chups.jussieu.fr
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ferrandez
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pouthas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology