Abstract
In older age, learning and feedback processing are usually impaired. This is thought to be due to impairments in the dopaminergic system and the anterior cingulate cortex. By contrast, processing of affective information seems to remain relatively intact. Recent research has also demonstrated that cognitive functioning can be influenced by affective materials or contexts and lead to an enhancement in diverse cognitive tasks. Hence, the aim of the present study was to explore, whether emotional feedback would counteract age-related learning deficits and strengthen early and later phases of feedback processing as reflected in the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P3b of the event-related potential (ERP). Younger and older participants conducted a probabilistic reinforcement learning task in which the accurate responses had to be learned via feedback. In emotional trials, feedback stimuli consisted of faces with smiling and disgusted expressions, and in a non-emotional condition, positive and negative feedback was indicated by the background color of faces with neutral expressions. Our main results were that older adults showed better learning performance in the emotional feedback condition and a larger P3b after emotional than non-emotional feedback indexing heightened working memory updating after task relevant events.
Highlights
In order to learn which behavior leads to a desired goal humans need to be able to process feedback from their environment
Feedback stimuli consisted of faces with smiling and disgusted expressions, and in a non-emotional condition, positive and negative feedback was indicated by the background color of faces with neutral expressions
Our results demonstrate that emotional feedback can diminish age-related impairments in learning and feedback processing in older adults
Summary
In order to learn which behavior leads to a desired goal humans need to be able to process feedback from their environment. In an ever-changing world, this ability is still very important in old age. Many studies have shown that older adults have impairments in feedback-induced learning which is probably due to deficits in feedback processing [e.g., 1–2]. By contrast, processing of affective information seems to remain relatively intact [e.g., 3]. It has been demonstrated that cognitive functioning can be influenced by affective information or affective contexts and that this can lead to an enhancement in diverse cognitive tasks [e.g., 4–5]. The goal of the present study was to explore whether emotional feedback can ameliorate agerelated impairments in feedback-induced learning
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