title: Context processing and context maintenance in healthy aging and early stage dementia of the Alzheimer's type.
abstract: Declines in the ability to process context information may represent a fundamental mechanism of age-related cognitive changes. Two components of context processing--activation/updating and maintenance--were examined in a sample of healthy younger and older adults, along with individuals suffering from early stage dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT). All older adult groups showed context activation/updating impairments, whereas context maintenance was only impaired in the oldest adults (age>75 years) and was further exacerbated in DAT individuals. The results suggest that context processing may be composed of functionally dissociable components and point to the utility of this construct in understanding the timecourse of cognitive decline in healthy and pathological aging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. tbraver@artsci.wustl.edu
authors.forename: Todd S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Braver
authors.forename: Ajay B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Satpute
authors.forename: Beth K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Rush
authors.forename: Caroline A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Racine
authors.forename: Deanna M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Barch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008606:Mental Processes; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time; D012660:Semantics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index