title: The boundary condition for observing compensatory responses by the elderly in a flanker-task paradigm.
abstract: This study aimed to establish a baseline condition to observe ERP responses for older adults in a conventional flanker-task paradigm, in which neither a reversal response rule toward a target nor a color-coded target was employed. In addition, this study aimed to examine whether the previous finding of the compensatory responses reflected on event-related potential (ERP) for older adults in performing a flanker task was due to the specific demand of the reversal response rule toward a target or simply due to the pop-out effect with a singleton target manipulation. The results of the current study showed that (1) some of the previously thought-to-be compensatory ERP responses might not really reflect compensatory responses; (2) the previous finding of age-related ERP compensatory responses was mainly due to the manipulation of the reversal response rule condition; and (3) in some scenarios of flanker-task paradigms, older adults were just as capable as younger adults in conquer with the flanker interference even though no ERP compensatory responses were found.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Electrophysiology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan; Institute of Allied Health Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan. Electronic address: psyhsl@mail.ncku.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Shulan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hsieh
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Electrophysiology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Chi
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013850:Thinking; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Age-related flanker effect; Compensatory response; Event-related potential; Reversal response rule