Inhibitory Selection Mechanisms in Clinically Healthy Older and Younger Adults.

TitleInhibitory Selection Mechanisms in Clinically Healthy Older and Younger Adults.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2018
AuthorsEich TS, Gonçalves BMM, Nee DE, Razlighi Q, Jonides J, Stern Y
JournalJ Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci
Volume73
Issue4
Pagination612-621
Date Published2018 04 16
ISSN1758-5368
KeywordsAdult, Age Factors, Aged, Cognitive Dysfunction, Cues, Female, Humans, Inhibition, Psychological, Male, Memory Disorders, Memory, Short-Term, Middle Aged, Reaction Time, Recognition, Psychology, Young Adult
Abstract

Objective: Declines in working memory are a ubiquitous finding within the cognitive-aging literature. A unitary inhibitory selection mechanism that serves to guide attention toward task-relevant information and resolve interference from task-irrelevant information has been proposed to underlie such deficits. However, inhibition can occur at multiple time points in the memory-processing stream. Here, we tested whether the time point at which inhibition occurs in the memory-processing stream affects age-related memory decline.

Method: Clinically healthy younger (n = 23) and older (n = 22) adults performed two similar item-recognition working memory tasks. In one task, participants received an instruction cue telling them which words to attend to followed by a memory set, promoting perceptual inhibition at the time of encoding. In the other task, participants received the instruction cue after they received the memory set, fostering inhibition of items already in memory.

Results: We found that older and younger adults differed in their ability to inhibit items both during encoding and when items had to be inhibited in memory but that these age differences were exaggerated when irrelevant information had to be inhibited from memory. These results provide insights into the mechanisms that support cognitive changes to memory processes in healthy aging.

DOI10.1093/geronb/gbw029
Alternate JournalJ Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci
PubMed ID26976135
PubMed Central IDPMC6018930
Grant ListK01 AG044467 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
R01 AG026158 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
T32 MH020004 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
Related Institute: 
Brain Health Imaging Institute (BHII)

Weill Cornell Medicine
Department of Radiology
525 East 68th Street New York, NY 10065