title: Human aging compromises attentional control of auditory perception.
abstract: Older adults often experience hearing difficulties in multitalker situations. Attentional control of auditory perception is crucial in situations where a plethora of auditory inputs compete for further processing. We combined an intensity-modulated dichotic listening paradigm with attentional manipulations to study adult age differences in the interplay between perceptual saliency and attentional control of auditory processing. When confronted with two competing sources of verbal auditory input, older adults modulated their attention less flexibly and were more driven by perceptual saliency than younger adults. These findings suggest that aging severely impairs the attentional regulation of auditory perception.
authors: Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany. passow@mpib-berlin.mpg.de
authors: Susanne
authors: S
authors: Passow
authors: René
authors: R
authors: Westerhausen
authors: Isabell
authors: I
authors: Wartenburger
authors: Kenneth
authors: K
authors: Hugdahl
authors: Hauke R
authors: HR
authors: Heekeren
authors: Ulman
authors: U
authors: Lindenberger
authors: Shu-Chen
authors: SC
authors: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D004007:Dichotic Listening Tests; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011304:Presbycusis / Q000503:physiopathology; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D055815:Young Adult