title: Pre-attentive detection of motion direction changes in normal aging.
abstract: Effects of normal aging on pre-attentive detection of changes in motion direction were evaluated. Young, middle-aged, and older subjects performed a visual central task while standard and deviant gratings varying in motion direction were presented outside the focus of attention. A greater negativity in the event-related potentials (ERPs) to deviants was observed in all groups at posterior sites within the N2 latency range. Visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) reached its peak between 145 and 165 ms irrespective of age. However, significant age-related changes observed in vMMN mean amplitude may suggest that the pre-attentive visual detection become less efficient in older subjects. This could lead to age-related deficits in switching attention to potentially salient visual changes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology. University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Sur S/N, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. laurall@usc.es
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lorenzo-López
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Amenedo
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pazo-Alvarez
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cadaveira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*