The effect of aging on auditory components of event-related brain potentials.
OBJECTIVE
To describe auditory perceptual, pre-attentive, attention-related and cognitive processes along lifespan in normal people by a simple auditory oddball paradigm easily usable in clinical practice.


METHODS
ERPs were recorded in 72 normal subjects. Four blocks of tones were delivered (20% rare 2,000 Hz and 80% frequent 1,000 Hz). In the former two blocks, subjects performed a concomitant distracting visual search task (distracted condition); in the latter two blocks, they had to attend the occurrence of the rare tones (active condition). Latency and amplitude of ERPs were analyzed according to age, gender, educational level and repetition.


RESULTS
N100 amplitude was greater in active than in distracted condition. MMN amplitude decreased with age. N2b and P300 latencies increased with age, while their amplitudes decreased. Females produced greater P300 than males. In the elderly, P300 latency was found to be longer in the second block than in the first one.


CONCLUSIONS
N100 and MMN were found to be less affected by age than N2b and P300. When repeated, P300 showed increased latency in elderly subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
The protocol detected the higher influence of aging on late cognitive processes than on the perceptual and pre-attentive ones. Age-adjusted normative data were produced.
Schiff
Sami
S
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Padua, Via Giustiniani, 2, 35128 Padua, Italy; CIRMANMEC, University of Padua, Italy.
Valenti
Pietro
P
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Padua, Via Giustiniani, 2, 35128 Padua, Italy; CIRMANMEC, University of Padua, Italy.
Andrea
Pellegrini
P
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Padua, Via Giustiniani, 2, 35128 Padua, Italy; CIRMANMEC, University of Padua, Italy.
Lot
Maria
M
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Padua, Via Giustiniani, 2, 35128 Padua, Italy; CIRMANMEC, University of Padua, Italy.
Bisiacchi
Patrizia
P
CIRMANMEC, University of Padua, Italy; Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Italy.
Gatta
Angelo
A
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Padua, Via Giustiniani, 2, 35128 Padua, Italy; CIRMANMEC, University of Padua, Italy.
Amodio
Piero
P
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Padua, Via Giustiniani, 2, 35128 Padua, Italy; CIRMANMEC, University of Padua, Italy. Electronic address: piero.amodio@unipd.it.
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003265:Contingent Negative Variation / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology