Abstract
We studied a Posner-type gaze-cued version of a Simon task to characterize age-related changes in visuospatial attention and inhibitory control. Earlier results had indicated that the direction of gaze is a strong social cue that speeds response times; so we wondered whether, as a task-irrelevant stimulus, it could compensate for age-related impairment of inhibitory processes in the elderly. Our results assessed the Simon effect by: reaction time, error rate, the P3 component and the lateralized readiness potential (LRP). We found that the Simon effect was larger in the older group confirming an increased sensitivity to interference and also suggesting a decreased inhibitory control in older adults. LRP results showed that aging and stimulus-response incongruency delayed the selection of the responses–indexed by longer s-LRP latency data–, and also decreased the efficiency of motor inhibition in the Simon task–the s-LRP amplitude of both wrong- and correct-side activation was larger in older adults, and the latency difference of these two components was longer in this age-group. Also a larger N2pc amplitude in the congruent, compared to incongruent gaze condition, showed an increased visuospatial attention when the gaze-cueing drew attention to the target stimulus. This gaze-cueing could not be ignored and hence it modified task processing in the older age group, which was evident in the incongruent Simon condition where the congruent gaze increased older adults’ reaction time and their error rate; but there was no difference observed in the congruent Simon condition. Since the anticipated facilitation of reaction times did not occur, we suggest that general slowing and decreased inhibitory functions in the elderly caused the social cue not to be a supporting stimulus but rather to be a further burden on their cognitive processing.
Highlights
Inhibitory processes are thought to play a central role in the understanding of how distractibility and interference sensitivity in older adults result in age-related changes in several cognitive domains–as first suggested by Hasher and Zacks [1]
The superior temporal sulcus is responsible for gaze perception [5], as this area accommodates a large set of information, such as understanding emotions and mental states in others; and it has an important role in the development of social cognition, in particular for communication, learning and attachment [6]
Responses were significantly faster in the congruent compared to the incongruent Simon condition (Simon main effect: F(1,43) = 487.53, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.92)
Summary
Inhibitory processes are thought to play a central role in the understanding of how distractibility and interference sensitivity in older adults result in age-related changes in several cognitive domains–as first suggested by Hasher and Zacks [1]. Key advantages of gaze cueing are its strong biological background and the ability to automatically direct visual attention towards the gaze direction (see a review by [2]). The superior temporal sulcus is responsible for gaze perception [5], as this area accommodates a large set of information, such as understanding emotions and mental states in others; and it has an important role in the development of social cognition, in particular for communication, learning and attachment [6]
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