Age-related differences in the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in attentional control.
We investigated the relative involvement of cortical regions supporting attentional control in older and younger adults during performance on a modified version of the Stroop task. Participants were exposed to two different types of incongruent trials. One of these, an incongruent-ineligible condition, produces conflict at the non-response level, while the second, an incongruent-eligible condition, produces conflict at both non-response and response levels of information processing. Greater attentional control is needed to perform the incongruent-eligible condition compared to other conditions. We examined the cortical recruitment associated with this task in an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm in 25 older and 25 younger adults. Our results indicated that while younger adults demonstrated an increase in the activation of cortical regions responsible for maintaining attentional control in response to increased levels of conflict, such sensitivity and flexibility of the cortical regions to increased attentional control demands was absent in older adults. These results suggest a limitation in older adults' capabilities for flexibly recruiting the attentional network in response to increasing attentional demands.
Prakash
Ruchika Shaurya
RS
Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, USA. prakash.30@osu.edu
Erickson
Kirk I
KI
Colcombe
Stanley J
SJ
Kim
Jennifer S
JS
Voss
Michelle W
MW
Kramer
Arthur F
AF
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D057190:Stroop Test; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology
Neuroreport. 2001 Jul 3;12(9):2065-71
11435947
Eur J Neurosci. 2006 Mar;23(6):1658-64
16553630
Neuroimage. 2004 Apr;21(4):1732-47
15050594
Cereb Cortex. 2006 Jun;16(6):827-34
16135781
Neuroimage. 2002 Sep;17(1):479-89
12482100
Neuroimage. 2003 Dec;20(4):2135-41
14683717
Eur J Neurosci. 1997 Jul;9(7):1329-39
9240390
Neuroimage. 1999 Jul;10(1):6-14
10385577
Science. 1999 Mar 12;283(5408):1657-61
10073923
Prog Brain Res. 2001;134:459-70
11702561
Psychol Aging. 1994 Dec;9(4):491-512
7893421
J Cogn Neurosci. 2000 Nov;12(6):988-1000
11177419
Behav Brain Res. 2009 Jan 30;197(1):186-97
18804123
J Cogn Neurosci. 2000 Jan;12(1):1-47
10769304
Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 2001 Dec;12(3):467-73
11689307
Obesity (Silver Spring). 2006 Mar;14(3):345-56
16648603
Neurobiol Aging. 2007 Feb;28(2):272-83
16480789
Brain Res Cogn Brain Res. 1998 Jul;7(1):1-13
9714705
Neuroimage. 1997 Jan;5(1):49-62
9038284
Magn Reson Med. 2003 Jan;49(1):193-7
12509838
Annu Rev Neurosci. 1995;18:193-222
7605061
Neuropsychologia. 1993 Sep;31(9):907-22
8232848
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2001 Apr;11(2):157-63
11301234
Brain Cogn. 2002 Aug;49(3):277-96
12139955
Hum Brain Mapp. 1999;8(2-3):109-14
10524601
Neuroimage. 2005 Sep;27(3):497-504
15964208
Neuroimage. 2003 Oct;20(2):1052-63
14568475