Covert orienting of visuospatial attention in the early stages of aging.
Electrophysiological and behavioral responses were recorded in healthy young (19-23 years) and older (56-66 years) subjects during the execution of a visuospatial attention task. The objective was to test whether covert orienting of visuospatial attention (COVAT) is sensitive to the early stages of aging. All subjects responded faster to targets following valid than invalid cues. The amplitude of the P1 component of visual event-related potentials (ERP) was larger to targets following central valid cues at all SOAs. Subtle age-related changes were observed in P1 amplitude under peripheral cueing. Furthermore, older subjects presented longer reaction times (RTs) and lower P1 amplitudes regardless of the attention condition.
Lorenzo-López
Laura
L
Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Sur S/N, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Doallo
Sonia
S
Vizoso
Carmen
C
Amenedo
Elena
E
Rodríguez Holguín
Socorro
S
Cadaveira
Fernando
F
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*