Auditory go/nogo processing in the aged brain: insights from delta and theta brain oscillations

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Auditory go/nogo processing in the aged brain: insights from delta and theta brain oscillations Christina Schmiedt-Fehr1*, Saskia Dühl1 and Canan Basar-Eroglu1 1 University of Bremen, Germany Increases in intraindividual variability (short-term trial-to-trial fluctuation) of behavior in later adulthood have been reported. Whether changes in trial-to-trial fluctuations are reflected on behavioral and neuronal level was in this study. Behavioral and electrophysiological data related to performance in an auditory Go/NoGo task were analyzed in young and older adults in the present study. Especially, differences in within-person variability in behavior and neural activity between young and older adults and changes in topography of slow event-related oscillations (EROs) were of interest. Within-person variability in behavior was assessed by reaction time (RT) variability. Event-related delta and theta oscillations were analyzed using time-frequency transformation, which provides information on the time-course of single trial event-related EEG spectral power enhancement and intertrial phase-locking (ITC). In contrast to our previous visual Go/NoGo study, neither under-recruitment of task-relevant brain regions nor larger ITC was found in older compared to young adults for the auditory theta and delta EROs. Young did not differ from older adults in RT variability or in single trial delta/theta ITC. Altered recruitment of brain activity at advanced age was indicated, first, by stronger early theta phase-locking older compared to young adults and, second, by a Go-specific lateralization of delta/theta activity. We conclude that within-person variability may increase with age, but the degree depends on performance level and the modality investigated. Funding: This research was supported by a grant of the University of Bremen, Germany (Zentrale Forschungsförderung: 11/854/05). Keywords: Aging, EROS Conference: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Sessions: Cognitive Aging Citation: Schmiedt-Fehr C, Dühl S and Basar-Eroglu C (2011). Auditory go/nogo processing in the aged brain: insights from delta and theta brain oscillations. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00619 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 15 Nov 2011; Published Online: 28 Nov 2011. * Correspondence: Dr. Christina Schmiedt-Fehr, University of Bremen, Bermen, Germany, schmiedtfehr@uni-bremen.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Christina Schmiedt-Fehr Saskia Dühl Canan Basar-Eroglu Google Christina Schmiedt-Fehr Saskia Dühl Canan Basar-Eroglu Google Scholar Christina Schmiedt-Fehr Saskia Dühl Canan Basar-Eroglu PubMed Christina Schmiedt-Fehr Saskia Dühl Canan Basar-Eroglu Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.