Ageing affects event-related potentials and brain oscillations: a behavioral and electrophysiological study using a haptic recognition memory task.
In this electrophysiological study, we investigated the effects of ageing on recognition memory for three-dimensional (3D) familiar objects presented to touch in a continuous paradigm. To examine changes in event-related potentials (ERPs) and brain oscillations, we recorded the EEGs of healthy groups of young (n=14; mean age=32.3 years) and older adults (n=14; mean age=65.1). Both age groups exhibited similar accuracy and exploration times when making old-new judgments. Young and older participants showed a marginally significant ERP old/new effect widely distributed over the scalp between 550-750 ms. In addition, the elders showed lower amplitude than younger participants within 1200-1500 ms. There were age-related differences in brain oscillations as measured by event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP). Older adults showed greater alpha and beta power reductions than young participants, suggesting the recruitment of additional neural resources. In contrast, the two age groups showed a reliable old/new effect in the theta band that temporarily overlapped the ERP old/new effect. The present results suggest that despite similar behavioral performance, the young and older adults recruited different neural resources to perform a haptic recognition task.
Departamento de Psicología Básica II, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Juan del Rosal, 10, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
Manuel
M
Sebastián
José M
JM
Reales
Soledad
S
Ballesteros
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001683:Biological Clocks; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology*