title: Examining age-related differences in auditory attention control using a task-switching procedure.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Using a novel task-switching variant of dichotic selective listening, we examined age-related differences in the ability to intentionally switch auditory attention between 2 speakers defined by their sex.
  
  
  METHODS
  In our task, young (M age = 23.2 years) and older adults (M age = 66.6 years) performed a numerical size categorization on spoken number words. The task-relevant speaker was indicated by a cue prior to auditory stimulus onset. The cuing interval was either short or long and varied randomly trial by trial.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found clear performance costs with instructed attention switches. These auditory attention switch costs decreased with prolonged cue-stimulus interval. Older adults were generally much slower (but not more error prone) than young adults, but switching-related effects did not differ across age groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data suggest that the ability to intentionally switch auditory attention in a selective listening task is not compromised in healthy aging. We discuss the role of modality-specific factors in age-related differences.
authors.affiliation: Correspondence should be addressed to Vera Lawo, Institute of Psychology, Cognitive and Experimental Psychology, RWTH Aachen University, Jägerstr. 17/19, D-52066 Aachen, Germany. E-mail: lawo@psych.rwth-aachen.de.
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lawo
authors.forename: Iring
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Koch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011930:Reaction Time; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult