title: Age-Related Changes in Attentional Control Using an N-Back Working Memory Paradigm.
abstract: Older adults tend to be affected by task-irrelevant distracters. However, whether or not this aging effect is evident when task-irrelevant and relevant stimuli are presented across different sensory modalities is still a subject of debate. The purpose of the present study was to clarify age-related differences in the effects of auditory distraction on visual information processing.
  
  
  
  Participants included 20 young individuals, 20 younger-old individuals in their 60s, and 20 older-old individuals in their 70s. Visual n-back (1-back, 2-back) working memory (WM) tasks using Japanese words were examined with and without auditory distracter conditions. Participants' performances were analyzed using a three-way analysis of variance: 3 (age group) × 2 (distraction) × 2 (working memory load).
  
  
  
  The effects of auditory distractions were influenced by aging and WM load. Auditory distractions disturbed WM performances preferentially in older adults. Further, participants in the older-old group were more affected by auditory distractions than those in the younger-old group, especially during the 2-back task.
  
  
  
  These results suggested that the WM performances for visual n-back tasks were largely disturbed by auditory distractions in older adults but not in young adults.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Clinical and Experimental Neuroimaging , National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology , Obu , Japan.|b Department of Psychology , Aichi Shukutoku University , Nagakute , Japan.
authors.forename: Kimiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.affiliation: a Department of Clinical and Experimental Neuroimaging , National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology , Obu , Japan.
authors.forename: Akinori
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.affiliation: a Department of Clinical and Experimental Neuroimaging , National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology , Obu , Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.affiliation: a Department of Clinical and Experimental Neuroimaging , National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology , Obu , Japan.
authors.forename: Izumi
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kuratsubo
authors.affiliation: a Department of Clinical and Experimental Neuroimaging , National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology , Obu , Japan.|c Institute of Innovation for Future Society, Nagoya University , Nagoya , Japan.
authors.forename: Misako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamagishi
authors.affiliation: a Department of Clinical and Experimental Neuroimaging , National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology , Obu , Japan.
authors.forename: Kaori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwata
authors.affiliation: a Department of Clinical and Experimental Neuroimaging , National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology , Obu , Japan.
authors.forename: Kengo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ito
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult