Normal Aging of the Attentional Control Functions That Underlie Working Memory.
OBJECTIVE
This study assessed the effect of aging on 3 attentional control functions (ACFs)--shifting, inhibition, and updating--and on their contribution to working memory (WM) tasks.


METHODS
Complex WM tasks (the Brown-Peterson procedure, the reading span, and the alpha span) and tasks used to derive composite measures of the ACFs were administered to 75 younger and 75 older adults.


RESULTS
Of the 3 ACFs, only inhibition was impaired in aging after controlling for processing speed. Furthermore, the effect of aging on WM tasks was not pervasive, as older adults showed impaired performance on the Brown-Peterson procedure and the reading span but not on the alpha span. When examining the contribution of ACFs to WM in older adults, updating accounted for performance on the Brown-Peterson and reading span tasks, and inhibition was involved in performance on the alpha span task. In younger adults, it was processing speed that contributed the most to WM.


CONCLUSIONS
This pattern of results suggests that complex WM tasks reflect different ACFs and that this varies as a function of age.
Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Quebec, Canada.
Stéphanie
S
Sylvain-Roy
Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Quebec, Canada.
Ovidiu
O
Lungu
Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Quebec, Canada. sylvie.belleville@umontreal.ca.
Sylvie
S
Belleville
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult
Aging; Attentional control; Inhibition; Shifting; Updating; Working memory