Evidence for compensation: general and specific mechanisms underlie efficient inhibition in old and young individuals

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Evidence for compensation: general and specific mechanisms underlie efficient inhibition in old and young individuals Linda Geerligs1*, Emi Saliasi2, Natasha Maurits2 and Monicque Lorist1 1 University of Groningen, Netherlands 2 University Medical Center Groningen, Netherlands As people age they experience increasing difficulties with suppressing irrelevant information. At the same time age magnifies the differences in cognitive function between individuals. The goal of the current study was to investigate the neural correlates of variability in inhibition between individuals, using event related potentials and phase locking analyses. Older and younger participants performed a selective attention task. They were split into high and low performers based on inhibition inefficiency; the slowing of response times due to salient irrelevant information. Behavioral data indicated that high performing elderly showed no significant increase in inhibition inefficiency, compared to young high performers. However, low performing elderly showed a decline in inhibition compared to all other groups. The same pattern was visible in the P1 peak amplitude; low performers and in particular old low performers had a larger P1 peak than high performers. A phase locking analysis in the alpha (8-12 Hz) band revealed that increased phase locking between frontal and occipito-parietal regions of interest (ROIs) in the prestimulus interval led to better inhibition in both age groups, while phase locking in the higher beta band (20-30 Hz) was related to better inhibition in the elderly group only. We conclude that a decline in inhibition is related to a deficit in the suppression of irrelevant information in early stages of visual processing. Increased top down modulation from frontal to occipito-parietal ROIs in the alpha band appears to be a mechanism facilitating inhibition of irrelevant information in both young and elderly. A more general increase in phase locking in the higher beta band may reflect compensation mechanisms employed by high performing elderly. Keywords: Aging, P1 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: Geerligs L, Saliasi E, Maurits N and Lorist M (2011). Evidence for compensation: general and specific mechanisms underlie efficient inhibition in old and young individuals. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00623 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. Linda Geerligs, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands, lindageerligs@gmail.com 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 Linda Geerligs Emi Saliasi Natasha Maurits Monicque Lorist Google Linda Geerligs Emi Saliasi Natasha Maurits Monicque Lorist Google Scholar Linda Geerligs Emi Saliasi Natasha Maurits Monicque Lorist PubMed Linda Geerligs Emi Saliasi Natasha Maurits Monicque Lorist 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.