title: Contrasting neural effects of aging on proactive and reactive response inhibition.
abstract: Two distinct forms of response inhibition may underlie observed deficits in response inhibition in aging. We assessed whether age-related neurocognitive impairments in response inhibition reflect deficient reactive inhibition (outright stopping) or also deficient proactive inhibition (anticipatory response slowing), which might be particularly evident with high information load. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging in young (n = 25, age range 18-32) and older adults (n = 23, 61-74) with a stop-signal task. Relative to young adults, older adults exhibited impaired reactive inhibition (i.e., longer stop-signal reaction time) and increased blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal for successful versus unsuccessful inhibition in the left frontal cortex and cerebellum. Furthermore, older adults also exhibited impaired proactive slowing, but only as a function of information load. This load-dependent behavioral deficit was accompanied by a failure to increase blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal under high information load in lateral frontal cortex, presupplementary motor area and striatum. Our findings suggest that inhibitory deficits in older adults are caused both by reduced stopping abilities and by diminished preparation capacity during information overload.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: mirjambloemendaal@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mirjam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bloemendaal
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zandbelt
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Joost
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wegman
authors.affiliation: Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ondine
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: van de Rest
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Roshan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cools
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aarts
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D059031:Anticipation, Psychological; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Functional MRI; Healthy aging; Proactive response inhibition; Reactive response inhibition