Abstract Presentations - Hogrefe eContent - Hogrefe Publishing

Abstracts of the International Conference ‘‘Aging & Cognition’’

Abstract Presentations Inhibition of Return (IOR) Promotes Pre-Movement ‘‘Idling’’ of Sensorimotor Areas and Post-Movement Inhibition of Motor Areas. Does Aging Change the Picture? Amenedo, E., Gutirrez-Domnguez, F.-J., Mateos-Ruger, S. M., & Pazo-lvarez, P. University of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain Objectives: To explore the IOR effects on EEG activity related to response processes by analysing the spatial and temporal changes in frequency-specific sensorimotor cortical oscillations, and their possible changes with aging. Methods: Right-handed young and older adults executed a ‘‘cue-back’’ task with stimuli presented along the vertical axis. Participants were instructed to maintain central fixation and to press one of two possible buttons to red or blue target stimuli presented at the same (LO) or different location (LN), and with the same (CO) or different colour (CN), as uninformative cues presented randomly 2000 ms before. EEG activity was continuously recorded from 60 scalp electrodes. ICA-corrected data from uncued (LNCN) and location cued (LOCN) conditions were segmented into epochs of 4500 ms (3500 to 1000 ms relative to right hand button press). Time-Frequency (T–F) analysis was performed using EEGLAB v10.2.2.4b running under Matlab R2009a. Trial-by-trial T–F analysis was computed for every sensor, subject and condition separately by a sinusoidal moving Morlet-windowed wavelet with linearly increased cycles form 2 cycles for the lowest frequency (2 Hz) to 20 cycles for the highest frequency (40 Hz) analysed (step size 0.5 Hz). Changes in event-related spectral power (dB) at different time points, relative to power in base line (3000 to 2500 ms) were computed by the Event-Related Spectral Perturbation (ERSP) index (Delorme & Makeig, 2004). Differences between conditions in each group, and between groups across conditions, were addressed with permutation analyses (alpha 0.05). Finally, the obtained power changes in the frequency bands, time intervals, and electrodes where permutations showed significant differences were reanalysed with false discovery rate (fdr) correction for multiple comparisons. Results: Older adults showed, in all conditions, more ERD in mu band, and less ERS in theta band during the premovement period. Less ERS in beta band in the postmovement interval was also observed. Spatial IOR effects differed between upper and lower visual fields (UVF and LVF respectively). In the LVF, spatial IOR was more associated with pre-movement ERS in theta and mu bands whereas in the UVF it was more related to ERS in the beta band in both age groups. Conclusion: The results suggest that aging affects the pattern of cortical oscillations during response preparation and execution. However, spatial IOR shows generally the same effects in both age groups.

Hogrefe Publishing

9

Interactions of Working and Long-Term Memory in the Medial Temporal Lobe Axmacher, N. Klinik fr Epileptologie, Universitt Bonn, and Deutsches Zentrum fr Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen (DZNE), Bonn, Germany Traditionally, working and long-term memory processes have been conceptualized as clearly distinct cognitive abilities and attributed to different neural systems. In particular, the medial temporal lobe has been considered crucial for episodic long-term memory encoding and retrieval, but irrelevant for working memory processes. Recent evidence from neuroimaging studies as well as neuropsychological results from patients with lesions of the medial temporal lobe suggest, however, that this region may actually also play a role for working memory tasks involving multiple items or associations between item features. Here, I will present data from intracranial EEG recordings in epilepsy patients on the putative neuronal mechanisms in the medial temporal lobe underlying maintenance of multiple items. In particular, we tested a specific neurocomputational model suggesting that simultaneous maintenance of multiple items relies on a multiplexing buffer in which individual items are represented by individual cycles of gamma band activity coupled to consecutive phase ranges of theta oscillations. Indeed, our data supported a revised version of this model. This buffer could also be relevant for the encoding of sequential information into long-term memory, as it may represent consecutive items during the time constants of synaptic long-term plasticity. Currently, we are investigating whether the frequency ratio of cross-frequency coupling of gamma amplitude to theta phase corresponds to working memory capacity, and whether intracranial EEG recordings allow one to detect spontaneous reactivation of individual items during the maintenance phase.

ICT and Brain Training Affect Positively on Selected Age Related Cognitive Changes Ballesteros, S., Mayas, J., Toril, P., Prieto, A., Pita, C., Ponce de Len, L., & Reales, J. M. Research Group Studies on Aging and Neurodegenerative Diseases, Universidad Nacional de Educacin a Distancia, Madrid, Spain Objectives: Aging is associated with declines in many cognitive processes including episodic memory, processing speed and executive control while other functions such as implicit memory and world knowledge are preserved with age. Isolation and inactivity may result in cognitive decline limiting independent living in older adults. The present study investigated the effect of active engagement using a new ICT approach developed in the European AGNES project and brain training to counteract the negative effects of aging.

Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75 DOI: 10.1027/0269-8803/a000095

10


Methods: In the study participated 38 healthy older volunteers that underwent a screening test battery. All had a MMSE score > 28 and were divided randomly into two groups. Participants in the experimental group were provided with a basic ICT platform consisting of a PC computer and the web-based social network Modern Families. They received 20 1-h videogame training sessions with a brain-training commercial package (Lumosity) involving working memory, attention, problem solving and mental calculation tasks. Both groups were tested before and after the training or an equivalent period of time. They also performed a series of experimental tasks to assess attentional functions, executive control, processing speed, spatial working memory, and long-term memory. Results: The results showed that the 17 participants that completed the training sessions improved significantly in videogame performance. Furthermore, the results showed a significant improvement in speed of processing, attention, and episodic memory. However, brain training showed not transfer to executive functions (assessed by the Wisconsin test) and to spatial working memory. No variation was found in the control group. Conclusion: Our results suggest that social engagement using new information and communication technology and brain training with videogames transfer to cognitive performance on a number of cognitive tasks that deteriorate with age, including speed of processing, attention, and immediate and delayed memory performance. The results support the role of cognitive reserve and may point to compensatory mechanisms that influence the neuroprotective brain capacity, increasing cognitive functioning. Mental and social activity via Internet may act as protective factors against cognitive decline and dementia, and may contribute to successful aging. Neural Activation Changes During Acquisition of a Bimanual Tracking Task Under Augmented and Nonaugmented Feedback Conditions in Elderly Beets, I.A.M.1, Coxon, J.2, Gooijers, J.1, & Swinnen, S.P.1,3 1 Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, KU Leuven, Belgium 2 Department of Sport and Exercise Science, The University of Auckland, New Zealand 3 Leuven Research Institute for Neuroscience & Disease (LIND), Leuven The Netherlands Objectives: Everyday functioning in elderly is often compromised due to diminished bimanual coordination. The goal was to examine to what extent elderly can regain bimanual coordination skills by training and the underlying neural changes in activity. Method: Young and Elderly (N = 25 each) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging before (PRE) and after (POST) training. There were 5 training sessions in which a set of bimanual skills was practiced for 5 days with (FB) and without (NFB) augmented feedback. A target, presented on a visual display, was tracked by rotating two dials (left and right hand) simultaneously either inwards, outwards, both clockwise, or both counterclockwise, at Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

one of 5 relative frequency ratios. In FB trials, a cursor showed the current position relative to the target point. Each trial was decomposed into a first phase in which subjects planned the movement (PLAN), based on the presented target direction on the screen, and a second phase in which they executed the movement (PERFORM). Results: Behavioral results revealed a greater error reduction in Elderly than in Young adults over training. Elderly reached the level of PRE performance of Young after training in both FB and NFB. In Elderly, neural changes as a function of training were only found for PERFORM FB. This was driven by a significant PRE > POST effect, located in bilateral sensorimotor areas, right PPC, bilateral cerebellum, right DLPFC and bilateral occipital-temporal areas. An Age * Time interaction was present for both PLAN and PERFORM NFB trials, whereby the PRE > POST effect was greater for Young than for Elderly. For PLAN NFB, this effect was located in left primary visual areas, right IPS, right SMG, and left posterior cingulate; for PERFORM NFB, this effect was apparent in left LOC, left V3v and left V5. Conclusion: Elderly can acquire new bimanual coordination patterns. Elderly showed no PRE-to-POST neural changes regarding PLAN, suggesting that they did not optimize movement planning. Movement execution in the presence of FB however, became more automatic after training. Elderly showed no Time effect for NFB while this effect was present (and was significantly bigger) in Young. The consolidation processes may thus be slower in Elderly to yield extensive neural activation changes, especially for the difficult situation when no Feedback is present. Future studies should reveal whether Elderly experience greater benefits from a longer training time. Older Adults’ Social Source Memory is Quite Good, But Less Flexible Than That of Young Adults Bell, R., Mund, I., Giang, T., & Buchner, A. Heinrich-Heine-University Dsseldorf, Germany Objectives: Cognitive aging is characterized by a deficit in associative memory. However, several results suggest that memory for the association of stimuli with emotionally valent information is comparably well preserved in old age. In the present study, we examined memory for reputational face-trait associations. Methods: Younger and older participants played a cooperation game with interaction partners whose faces were displayed on the screen. We used younger and older faces that had received low or high trustworthiness ratings in a norming study. Half of the interactants cheated, and the other half cooperated. In a surprising memory task, old-new face recognition was assessed. If a face was classified as previously seen, participants were additionally asked to indicate whether the face was associated to cooperation or cheating in the cooperation game. Results: Both younger and older adults invested more into the cooperation game when the faces looked trustworthy than when the faces looked untrustworthy. Facial trustworthiness was associated with higher likability ratings and a Hogrefe Publishing


tendency towards guessing that the face was associated with cooperative behavior in both age groups. Older adults had surprisingly good source memory for the face-trait associations. Consistent with previous results, younger adults’ source memory was modulated by participants’ expectations. They preferentially remembered information that violated their expectancies about the future behavior of the interactants. Older adults, in contrast, had an inflexible memory bias for negative reputational information. Conclusion: The results confirm previous observations that memory for the association between faces and emotional reputational information is comparably well retained in old age. However, while younger adults used a flexible encoding strategy to remember the social interaction partners, older adults focused only on negative social outcomes. This finding suggests that social-emotional information processing may be less flexible in old age. Reward-Based Learning in Healthy Aging – Deficits and Spared Aspects Bellebaum, C. Ruhr University Bochum, Germany In recent years, many studies have shown that healthy aging is accompanied by deficits in reward-based learning and behavioural adaptation. These age-related changes are caused by alterations in the so-called reward system of the human brain, that is, the dopaminergic neurons of the midbrain and their projection sites in the striatum and anterior cingulate cortex. In our first study we wanted to find out whether event-related potential (ERP) correlates of reward processing in healthy aging reflect reward expectation, as has been shown for healthy younger subjects. Healthy younger (mean age 25 years) and older (60 years) subjects completed a reward-based learning task in which explicit rules determining reward probability could be learned. Although the feedback-related negativity (FRN), an ERP component associated with the processing of performance feedback, was reduced in elderly subjects, both groups showed evidence of a modulation by reward expectancy, which is in accordance with the assumption that the FRN reflects a negative reward prediction error. In a further study we found that healthy older subjects learned better from positive than negative feedback in an observational feedback learning study, whereas no such bias was found in younger subjects. Both older and younger subjects did not show a learning bias in active learning. Together, these findings indicate that basic mechanisms of feedback processing are intact in healthy aging, enabling older subjects to successfully adapt their behaviour. The Benefit of Bndf Val66met ‘‘Risk-Alleles’’ in Aging Beste, C.1, Gajewski, P. D.2, & Falkenstein, M.2 1 Ruhr University Bochum, Faculty of Psychology, Biopsychology, Bochum, Germany 2 Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Dortmund, Germany Hogrefe Publishing

11

Normal, healthy aging is related to declines in several facets of cognitive functions. Out of these, executive functions are strongly affected. This may be due to the fact that structural integrity of fronto-striatal networks in weakened during aging. This structural neuronal integrity depends on the availability of neurotrophic factors, like the brain-derivedneurotropic-factor (BDNF). To examine the role of BDNF for cognitive functions molecular genetics techniques can be used. Here, the Met-allele of the functional BDNF Val66Met polymorphism has been associated with deficits in several domains of cognitive functions in healthy young people. Here we present data on the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism that shows that the Met-allele confers benefit to its carriers in aging. On the basis of several experiments examining cognitive functions combining electrophysiological techniques (EEG and ERPs) with molecular genetic techniques we provide evidence that ‘‘inhibitory’’ signaling processes are rendered more efficient in elderly Met-allele carriers. Paradoxical increases in different executive functions like attentional switching, interference processing and auditory distraction may attributable to more efficient ‘‘inhibitory’’ processes. On a neuronal level, these effects may emerge due to shifts in the balance between the direct and the indirect basal ganglia pathway.

Benefits of Exercise Training Intervention on Attentional Control and Quality of Life in Healthy and Frail Older Adults Bherer, L. Scientific Director and Chair in Preventive Health Science Research PERFORM Centre, Concordia University, Montral, Canada Objective: An increasing number of studies have suggested that people should adopt physical activity and exercise as part of their lifestyle to alleviate the negative impact of chronic disease and aging on the body and mind. Studies with healthy senior suggest that physical exercise can help improve cognition and quality of life. Whether frail older adults can show such benefits remains to be documented. We assessed the impact of 3-month exercise training program on cognition and quality of life in sedentary and frail older adults. Method: Participants aged 61–89 years were assigned to an exercise-training group (3 times a week for 12 weeks) or a control group (waiting list). Frailty was determined by a complete geriatric examination using specific criteria. Pre- and post-test measures assessed physical capacity, cognitive performance, and quality of life. Results: Compared with controls, the intervention group showed significant improvement in physical capacity (functional capacities and physical endurance), cognitive performance (executive functions, processing speed, and working memory), and quality of life (global quality of life, leisure activities, physical capacity, social/family relationships, and physical health). Benefits were overall equivalent between frail and nonfrail participants. Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

12


Conclusion: Physical exercise training leads to improved cognitive functioning and psychological well-being in frail older adults.

A Comparison of Multi-Domain and Single-Domain Cognitive Trainings in Old Age Binder, J.1,2, Zçllig, J.1,2, Martin, M.1,2, Eschen, A.2, Mrillat, S.2, Rçcke, C.2, & Jncke, L,1,2 1 University of Zurich, Department of Psychology, Gerontopsychology, Switzerland 2 University of Zurich, International Normal Aging and Plasticity Imaging Center (INAPIC), Switzerland Objectives: Recent cognitive training research has demonstrated that multi-domain cognitive trainings, which engage participants in complex tasks, are effective in improving cognitive functioning in old age. Furthermore, multidomain cognitive trainings show larger transfer effects than other cognitive training types. However, the mechanisms underlying multi-domain cognitive trainings remain unknown since different multi-domain cognitive trainings are hardly comparable: they range from complex video games to group courses in creative problem solving or digital photography. The present study intends to contribute to a deeper understanding of the processes underlying the superior efficacy of multi-domain cognitive trainings. We therefore compare a multi-domain with three single-domain cognitive trainings in a controlled manner. Methods: The training study is a randomized controlled single-blind trial with a 4-group design consisting of 80 healthy old adults (65–75 years). The participants take part in one of three single-domain trainings, which focuses either on visuomotor function, inhibition, spatial orientation, or in the multi-domain training. The later engages these three functions simultaneously. At home, participants train for 50 days with a training session everyday that is self-administered on an iPad. Before and after the training, we assess cognitive functioning and training transfers with a neuropsychological test battery. Results: Preliminary results will be presented and discussed. We will show both the adaptive training curves and the results of training transfers.

Prefrontal Neural Activation During Dual-Task Walking in Old-Age: An fNIRS Study Bock, O., Beurskens, R., Helmich, I., & Rein, R. German Sport University, Cologne, Germany Objectives: Previous studies suggest that the human gait is influenced by higher order cognitive processes located in the frontal lobes but up to now, only a few studies evaluated the functional cortical correlates underlying the neural control of gait. The present study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate the hemodynamic correlates of dual-task walking in young and older individuals. Methods: We combined walking with a concurrent visual (checking) and a verbal (alphabet recall) task, and Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

compared subjects’ performance as well as their prefrontal activation to those in single-task walking. Results: Behavioral data yielded higher dual-task costs in the older group for both concurrent tasks, but the effect was more pronounced for the visual task. fNIRS yielded a reduced activation under dual-task conditions only in the older group, and there only for the visual task. Conclusion: We confirm that age-related deficits of dualtask walking emerge mainly with a visual concurrent task, and document that those deficits are associated with a reduced prefrontal activation. Possibly, seniors recruit other cortical regions at the expense of the prefrontal cortex to master this challenging task combination.

The Effect of Blood-Brain Barrier Function on Cognition Burgmans, S., Haar, H. v.d., Verhey, F., & Backes, W. Maastricht University/Alzheimer Centrum Limburg, The Netherlands Objectives: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) are the most common forms of dementia. Yet, the cause of these diseases is still unknown. A potentially important initiating factor is a disrupted blood-brain barrier. This can initiate cerebral microangiopathy, which has frequently been associated with VaD. Nevertheless, also in most AD patients a substantial increase of vascular damage has been observed. The present study investigates the correlation between blood-brain-barrier breakdown and cognitive decline in AD and VaD. Methods: An innovative dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI scan that has recently been developed and tested at our institute, has been used to measure blood-brain barrier permeability. We investigate the relationship between this permeability measure and (i) cognitive performance and (ii) the status of MRI visible cerebrovascular pathology (i.e., white matter hyperintensities, lacunar infarctions, microbleeds) in the most common forms of dementia. We will include patients with AD, VaD, and mixed AD and VaD, and patients with the preclinical stages of these diseases. We will also include a group of age-matched health controls. Results: Results of the pilot data will be presented.

Cognitive Ergonomic Design of Project Management Software for Aging Users Btzler, J., Brçhl, C., Jochems, N., & Schlick, C. M. Chair and Institute of Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics of RWTH Aachen University, Germany Objectives: Since project management is a fundamental part of today’s work environment and in light of the demographic change, project management software (PMS) requires an ergonomic design adapted to the needs of an aging workforce. Besides age-related changes in the perceptual and motor system, declines in cognitive performance can have an important impact on the work with Hogrefe Publishing


complex software tools if these are not designed appropriately. Consequently, especially the age-robust cognitive ergonomic design of PMS presents an important factor that was investigated regarding the de-facto standard of PMS. Methods: Due to the application of PMS throughout the whole company, user groups are associated to different work areas covering different activity profiles. Therefore, we differentiated three target groups (project planner, executives and team members) which usually conduct different tasks in PMS. To investigate the cognitive ergonomic design of the de-facto standard of PMS, three empirical studies were conducted representing these target groups. 12 subjects were investigated per study and divided into two age groups (AG I: 20–39 years, AG II: 40–60 years). In the first study, the project planers had to generate a new project plan with two PMS variants that differed regarding the icon designs (abstract bi-dimensional icons in two colors vs. pictorial colorful three-dimensional icons). The task in the second study was to specify a project plan with the help of three standard PMS (differing regarding the visualization method – Gantt chart or network diagram). As team members usually only give feedback to particular project activities, these tasks were investigated in a third study with a standard and an information reduced visualization variant. For all studies the performance of the user in terms of execution time was evaluated as dependent variable. Results: Results over all three studies show that the younger age group had shorter execution times than participants in the older age group. In the first study there was no significant difference for the icon design in both age groups but the older age group showed a tendency to have shorter execution times when working with the abstract icons. Regarding the three investigated PMS in the second study we found highest execution times for the PMS that visualizes the project plan with a network diagram for both age groups. This might be due to higher cognitive effort that is needed for navigation and scrolling when exploring the plan. For the third study we found significantly lower execution times when working with the information reduced PMS. Conclusion: Regarding work with PMS, it can be concluded that there are age differences in performance due to age-related changes in the cognitive system. Consequently, new methods for an age-robust cognitive ergonomic design of PMS have to be developed and integrated into PMS.

How Some People Do Better: A Brain Potential Analysis of Short-Latency Cognitive Compensation in Early-Stage Ad Chapman, R. M. & Gardner, M. N. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Center for Visual Science at the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA Objectives: How do some people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) maintain better cognitive performance than others? Hogrefe Publishing

13

AD offers an opportunity to elucidate how the brain overcomes damage early in the disease. Both reduction and increases of neural activity can be detected non-invasively with Event-Related Potentials (ERPs), which provide the high temporal resolution required to identify neurological mechanisms involved early in the information processing stream. We use C145, a short-latency ERP component (maximum at 145 ms post-stimulus), to investigate the electrophysiological basis of cognitive compensation in early-stage AD. Methods: Thirty-six subjects with early-stage, mild AD and 36 like-aged normal elderly (Controls) had EEG recorded while performing our Number-Letter task, a cognitive/perceptual paradigm that manipulates stimulus relevancies. The AD group was divided into AD subgroups by high or low performance (greater or less than 90% correct) on the Number-Letter task. ERP components, including C145, were extracted from ERPs using Principal Components Analysis. C145 amplitudes and spatial distributions were compared among Controls, AD subjects with High performance, and AD subjects with Low performance. Results: Compared to AD subjects, Control subjects showed enhanced C145 processing of stimuli in the occipital region where differential processing of stimuli (Relevant–Irrelevant) occurred. AD High performers recruited central brain areas in processing task relevancy. However, these central areas in Controls and in AD Low performers did not show a significant task relevancy effect. In addition, correlations between Number-Letter task accuracy and C145 difference-amplitudes for task relevancy (Relevant– Irrelevant) indicate that this electrophysiological measure was related to task behavior and that compensation in central regions contributed to better task performance. Conclusion: Differences in C145 amplitudes between AD and normal elderly groups regarding brain locations and types of task effects suggest compensatory mechanisms can occur in the AD brain to overcome loss of normal functionality. A compensatory mechanism occurred in the AD High performance group (with larger C145 amplitude differences between relevant and irrelevant stimuli in central regions) that was not found in either the AD Low performance or Control groups. This early post-stimulus compensation may have profound effects on the cognitive efficiency of some AD individuals. Research supported by National Institute of Health grant R01-AG041313.

Depression and Depressive Symptoms in Ageing Charlton, R. A. University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA; Goldsmiths University of London, UK Overall Objectives: To examine the impact of vascular risk and vascular damage on mood in late life in two studies, (1) Euthymic Adults; (2) individuals with late life depression (LLD). Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

14


Study 1-Euthymic Adults Objectives: Vascular risk is associated with LLD. It is less certain whether vascular risk is also associated with the endorsement of depressive symptoms among euthymic older adults. Methods: 57 Healthy, non-depressed older adults were recruited and assessed for endorsement of depression symptoms on two depression scales, vascular risk factors and cognitive function. Results: Vascular risk was significantly correlated with severity of depression on both measures. The pattern of correlations with cognition differed between depression scales. Conclusion: Vascular risk is associated with endorsement of depressive symptoms in euthymic older adults. However, the patterns of associations observed for the two depression scales are distinct and may reflect both differences in administration (self-report questionnaire versus interview) and item characteristics. Study 2-LLD Objectives: Although significant changes in both grey and white matter have been noted in LLD, the pathophysiology of implicated white matter tracts has not been fully described. We examine the integrity of specific white matter tracts in LLD versus Health Controls (HC). Methods: 23 individuals with LLD and 23 HC were recruited. White matter integrity metrics were calculated in bilateral Cingulum and Uncinate Fasciculus. Depression severity and cognition were assessed. Results: White matter integrity was lower in LLD versus HC in Bilateral Cingulum and Right Uncinate Fasciculus (p .05). Across the whole sample, depression severity correlated with integrity in the same tracts. In both LLD and HC cognition correlated with white matter integrity although the pattern of associations varied. Conclusions: White matter tract-integrity was lower in LLD compared to HC and was associated with depression severity across all participants. Tract-integrity was associated with cognition in both groups but more robustly among healthy controls. Aging Magnifies the Effects of COMT Gene on Cognitive Flexibility Colzato, L., van den Wildenberg, W., & Hommel, B. Leiden University and University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Objectives: Healthy aging is associated by a general decrease in cognitive flexibility. Responsible for this cognitive decline is the continuous decline of dopamine (DA). The resource modulation hypothesis assumes that genetic variability is more likely to result in performance differences when brain resources move away from close-to-optimal levels, as in aging. Methods: To test this hypothesis we (1) investigated whether individual differences in the COMT polymorphism (Val158Met genotype) contribute to individual differences in switching between tasks; (2) assessed whether this genetic effect is magnified in older adults, due to the considerable decline in dopamine functions. Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

Results: Our findings show that Val/Val homozygous individuals (who possess high striatal dopamine levels) show more pronounced cognitive flexibility than Met/-carriers. This effect was stronger in older than in younger adults. Conclusion: Our findings support the idea that agingrelated decline in dopamine availability alters the balance between genotypes and cognitive functions.

Aging Magnifies the Genetic (C957T-DRD2) Impact on Inhibitory Control Colzato, L., van den Wildenberg, W., & Hommel, B. Leiden University and University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Objectives: Healthy aging > 65 is characterized by a general decrease in cognitive control: old adults have more difficulty than young adults in stopping overt responses. Responsible for this cognitive decline is the continuous decline of striatal and extrastriatal dopamine (DA). The resource modulation hypothesis assumes that genetic variability is more likely to result in performance differences when brain resources move away from close-to-optimal levels, as in aging. Methods: To test this hypothesis we (1) investigated whether individual differences in the C957T polymorphism at DRD2 gene contribute to individual differences in the inhibition of behavioral responses in a stop-signal task; (2) assessed whether this genetic effect is magnified in older adults, due to the considerable decline in dopamine functions. Results: Our findings show that individuals carrying genotype associated with higher density of extrastriatal D2 receptors (C957T CC) were more efficient in inhibiting unwanted action tendencies. This effect was stronger in older than in younger adults. Conclusion: Our findings support the idea that agingrelated decline in dopamine availability alters the balance between genotypes and cognitive functions.

ERP Evidence for Life-Span Differences in the Use of Proactive and Reactive Cognitive Control Czernochowski, D., Saße, J., Haese, A., & Herff, S. Heinrich-Heine-University Dsseldorf, Germany According to the dual mechanisms of control framework (Braver et al., 2007), two alternate routes lead to correct response selection. When response conflict is detected, reactive control processes are recruited immediately before the response, at the expense of longer RTs. If advance preparation is feasible, control can be recruited proactively to allow for both rapid and correct response selection. Previous research (Czernochowski et al., 2010) has demonstrated that older adults rely predominantly on reactive control. However, so far it is unclear whether this age difference reflects a preference for accuracy over speed or older adults’ deficit in recruiting proactive control. Moreover, Hogrefe Publishing


the developmental trajectory of proactive and reactive control processes remains to be established. Here, children in grade two (7–8 years) and grade five (10–11) as well as young (20–25) and older (65–74) adults were instructed to emphasize either accuracy or speed in separate blocks during a cued task-switch paradigm. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to determine potential age differences in the neural correlate for reactive control (preresponse negativity, PRN). Behavioral data indicate adjustments in response criteria in terms of speed and accuracy in young adults, and smaller adjustments in terms of response speed for children and older adults. Starting around 200 ms pre-response, the corresponding ERPs revealed a (left-) frontal PRN for adult participants only. In young adults, it was observed selectively for task switches under accuracy instructions, but across task-conditions for older adults. Together, these results suggest that young adults flexibly adjust their response criteria and recruit reactive control selectively to meet higher task demands. By contrast, older adults and children experience high overall response conflict following insufficient preparation. Irrespective of task demands, reactive control enables older adults to emphasize accuracy at the expense of long RTs. By contrast, children exhibit both slow and error-prone performance as result of inadequate reactive control.

Electrophysiological Studies of Cognitive Functions in Healthy Aging and Cognitive Decline Deiber, M.-P.1,2, Missonnier, P.2,3, IbaÇez, V.2, & Giannakopoulos, P.3 1 INSERM U1039, Faculty of Medicine, La Tronche, France 2 Clinical Neurophysiology and Neuroimaging Unit, University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland 3 Division of General Psychiatry, Dept. of Psychiatry, University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland Aging is associated with a decline of cognitive abilities encompassing fluid intelligence and general processing resources. The aging brain develops functional reorganization to compensate the cognitive declines, ensuring some stabilization in performance. Such compensatory mechanisms may also take place in the pathological process of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), rendering difficult the distinction between normal and pathological aging at early stage. We use electroencephalography (EEG) as an easily accessible modality to probe attention and working memory functions in healthy elderly individuals and MCI patients. Our objectives are: (1) to identify task-related EEG patterns associated with normal aging and examine the alterations linked to mild cognitive impairment (transversal designs); (2) to identify subtle functional changes preceding neuropsychological pejoration in progressive MCI (longitudinal designs). We have recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) and oscillatory activities during n-back verbal working memory and delayed-face recognition tasks. In the n-back tasks, we have evidenced an early positive-negative ERP complex increasing parametrically with memory Hogrefe Publishing

15

load in young, but showing a ceiling effect in older subjects, suggesting reduced brain reserve in aging. This complex was initially absent in MCI patients whose condition worsened after a year (progressive MCI), denoting its value for prediction of cognitive decline. In addition, we separated a posterior evoked theta (4–8 Hz) component related to perceptual integration from a frontal induced theta component reflecting top-down attentional processes, and showed that this later component was altered in progressive MCI, demonstrating an early alteration of attentional circuits. Moreover, memory-sensitive parietal beta activity (15–25 Hz) was also reduced, pointing to the early impairment of working memory processes in these patients. In the delayed-face recognition task, analysis of face-specific N170 component and alpha activity (8–12 Hz) revealed that normal aging preserved the face bottom-up alerting mechanisms while reducing the top-down suppression of distracting stimuli. Both single and multi-domain amnestic MCI were even more impaired than elderly controls regarding suppression of task-irrelevant information during face retention. In contrast, only the more severe profiles (multi-domain MCI) showed a functional deficit at retrieval, as reflected by a significant reduction of the early N250r face recognition effect. These results suggest a differential alteration of face memory processes in these two MCI subtypes. Overall, our data illustrate the significance of EEG indices in characterizing the early functional changes associated to normal and pathological processes of aging.

The Role of Modality on Correct Recognition and Misinformation in Younger and Older Adults Dijkstra, K. Department of Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands Objectives: Research has demonstrated benefits of encoding in enactment relative to verbal and visual modalities for subsequent recall in older and younger adults (Dijkstra, MacMahon, & Misirlisoy, 2008). Other areas of memory research have demonstrated age-related declines in memory function, for example with regard to the misinformation effect. Older adults were more vulnerable for misinformation acceptance than younger adults (Loftus, 2005). In the present study, the two paradigms were combined in an experiment that tested recognition accuracy for unaltered post-event information and misinformation in younger and older adults. Methods: 71 younger and 91 older participants heard a verbal report, observed a sequence of events on slides on a screen, or observed and enacted this sequene of events. In the enactment condition, every slide contained one action and participants stood in front of the screen observing and imitating the person on the slide. Afterwards, all participants were presented with a written account of the story afterwards. The account reflected the events correctly (for half the participants) or contained misinformation. Two weeks later, participants were tested on their memory for Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

16


unaltered or misinformation in the form of a forced-choice recognition test that contained both forms of information. Results: Results of a Repeated Measures ANOVA indicated a three way interaction of age group, (mis)information and encoding modality, F(2, 150) = 3.17, p < .05. Older adults were more susceptible to misinformation than younger adults in the visual condition, whereas no age difference was present in the auditory condition. With regard to memory of unaltered information, there was an age group by encoding modality interaction, F(2, 102) = 5.50, p < .05, suggesting largest age differences in the enactment condition with older adults performing much lower than younger adults in that modality. Conclusion: The results supported earlier research regarding a higher vulnerability for misinformation aceptance in older adults relative to younger adults. However, this vulnerability was modulated by encoding modality. Visual encoding enhanced rather than reduced misinformation acceptance in the older group, whereas performance across age groups was the same in the auditory condition. Older adults did not seem to benefit from motoric encoding, possibly because encoding was a combination of visual and enactment encoding rather than just enactment encoding

The ‘‘Dark Side’’ of Working Memory and the Benefits of Distraction for Long-Term Memory Dzel, E. Deutsches Zentrum fr Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen (DZNE), Magdeburg, Germany Distraction typically impacts negatively on memory for recent events and patients with existing memory impairment are particularly vulnerable to distractor interference. In contrast, here we report a beneficial effect for distractor presentation in both patients with memory impairment due to bilateral hippocampal lesions and healthy adults with low memory performance. Our results highlight circumstances where active memory rehearsal may paradoxically increase long-term memory impairments and distraction reduces these memory deficits.

Underlying Mechanisms of Useful Field of View and Insight Visual Speed of Processing Training Edwards, J. D.1, O’Brien, J. L.2, Peronto, C. L.1 , & Lister, J. J.1 1 University of South Florida, School of Aging Studies, Communications Sciences and Disorders, Tampa, FL, USA 2 University of South Florida St. Petersburg, Department of Psychology, St. Petersburg, FL, USA Objectives: The Useful Field of View Test (UFOV) is a valuable tool to examine cognitive speed of processing for visual attention tasks (e.g., Edwards et al., 2005; 2006). UFOV is an excellent predictor of older adults’ driving mobility and safety (e.g., Ball et al., 2006; Clay et al., 2005). Interestingly, UFOV performance can be enhanced Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

by cognitive speed of processing training, which results in far transfer to improved Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) performance (Edwards et al., 2002, 2005). However, the underlying mechanisms of UFOV performance, cognitive speed of processing training gains, and the far transfer of such gains are not known. Three studies were conducted to examine these issues. Method: For study 1, we examined the underlying neural correlates of UFOV performance. Older adults’ (N = 33) UFOV performance was assessed and ERPs were recorded while participants completed a visual oddball task. In study 2, the underlying neural correlates of training gains were examined. Older adults completed the visual oddball ERP task pre- and post-randomization to either InSight cognitive speed of processing training (n = 11) or a no contact control condition (n = 11). For study 3, mediators of the transfer of training to improved IADL performance were examined among a sample of 126 older adults to identify potential mechanisms of training far transfer. Results: In study 1, correlational analyses indicated that participants with better UFOV scores on the divided attention and selective attention subtests had shorter P3b latencies, rs(31) = .395–.411, ps < .05. In study 2, ANOVA revealed that the amplitudes of the P3b and N2pc waves increased from pre- to post-training (ps < .03), reflecting enhancement of the allocation and capacity of attention. In study 3, Results indicated that speed of processing for a divided attention task (UFOV subtest 2) significantly mediated the transfer of training to IADL performance in a multiple mediation model accounting for 91% of the variance (point estimate ab of 0.26; CI 95% 0.07–0.63). Conclusion: These findings suggest that everyday functional improvements found from cognitive speed of processing training are directly attributable to improved UFOV performance, speed of processing for divided attention in particular. Similarly, allocation of neural resources are enhanced subsequent to training. The results of these studies will be synthesized and discussed in relation to the field of cognitive interventions for age-related cognitive decline.

Different Effects of Different Physical Training Programs on Cognitive Function in Older Men Eichberg, S. Institute of Movement and Sport Gerontology (Institut fr Bewegungs- und Sportgerontologie), German Sport University Cologne (Deutsche Sporthochschule Kçln), Germany Objectives: Many studies show that physical activity could be an effective approach to improve the cognitive performance of elderly people (Barnes et al., 2007; Colcombe & Kramer, 2003; Erikson & Kramer, 2009; Etnier et al., 2006). Most of the intervention programs are endurancebased. Little is known about the benefits of strength training on cognitive functions (Liu-Ambrose & Donaldson, 2009). Therefore, additional research is needed to explore the most effective mode of training and the mechanisms of actions contributing to cognitive change. Hogrefe Publishing


Methods: Data from 36 older inactive men (M = 73.23, SD = 2.90, range = 70–82 years of age) were assessed in physical performance (maximum strength of the upper and lower limbs, VO2max, mobility, balance) and cognitive performance (information processing speed, memory, executive function). The sample was randomized divided into 3 interventions groups: walking (60–65% HRmax, n = 11), moderate (60–65% 1RM, n = 13) and high intensive strength training (80–85% 1RM, n = 12). The groups do not differ in age, cognitive and physical performance at baseline. Results: After 3 months of training, the participants in all training groups show improvements in aerobic fitness and strength. A significant Time · Group interaction was found for visual-spatial memory. Compared with the endurance group, the high intensive resistance training group improved their performance in visual memory while the moderate resistance training group did not and the endurance training group declined. Another interaction was found for executive function. The performance enhanced in the endurance training group but not in both resistance training groups. There were no interaction effects in the other cognitive measures (p > .05). Conclusion: There was an improvement only in some cognitive functions after exercise. Strength training improves rather memory while endurance training increases processing speed and executive function. Therefore, it is hypothesized that there are different mechanisms of actions of resistance contrasted with endurance training that possibly mediate the cognitive change. Further research with larger sample sizes, longer intervention, and additional analysis of blood samples could verify this supposition.

The Effect of Age and of the Tonality of the Induced Emotion on Error Negativity (Ne) El Yagoubi, R.1 & Fezzani, K.2 1 Laboratoire CLLE-LTC (CNRS, UMR 5263), Universit de Toulouse 2, Toulouse, France 2 Laboratoire LAPMA (EA 3691), Universit Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France Objectives: A qualitative advance in the comprehension of the neural substrate of error processing was made by the identification of its electrophysiological signature. The analysis of event-related potential (ERP) revealed that the commission of an error is associated with a fronto-central negative deflection which picked at about 80 ms after the incorrect key press. This response locked ERP early component is labeled Error negativity (Ne; Falkenstein et al., 1990) or Error related Negativity (ERN, Gehring et al., 1993). There is growing evidences that Ne is generated by the Anterior cingulate Cortex (ACC; Dehaene et al., 1994). The ACC is a complex cerebral structure and it is critically involved in both emotional- and cognitive-control tasks (Egner et al., 2008). There is growing evidence that ACC plays also an important role in empathy (Larson et al., 2009) or emotional resonance to the presentation of an image of a human face expressing a negative or positive Hogrefe Publishing

17

emotion. The ACC activity is presumably modulated by the positive or negative tonality of the induced emotion in the sense that this structure is known to receive both dopaminergic (Holroyd & Coles, 2002) and noradrenergic (Riba et al., 2005) projections, respectively. Because the activity of the ACC was shown to be sensitive to normal and pathological aging (Drag & Bieliauskas, 2010), the present study addresses two main questions: (1) does age modulates the effect of the induced emotion on the ERN amplitude? (2) Does this modulation vary as a function of the emotional tonality? Methods: Older (n = 10) and younger (n = 10) participants performed a flanker choice reaction time task. Prior the presentation of the critical flanker stimulus, participants observe a neutral, pleasant or unpleasant picture from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS; Lang et al., 1999). For each condition, EEG and behavioral data were collected. Preliminar Results: A partial analysis of data revealed that for both age groups, behavioral and ERP were sensitive to the emotional tonality induced by the IAPS. Participants tended to respond faster, but with equivalent errors, when the induced emotion was negative than when it was positive or neutral. ERP data analysis revealed that amplitude of the Ne varied as a function of the interactive effect of Age group and of the emotional tonality induced by the IAPS. For older and for younger participants, comparatively to neutral IAPS, negative IAPS induced a larger Ne amplitudes. However, only older adults exhibited reduced Ne amplitude consecutive to the presentation of positive IAPS. Conclusion: Taken together, the present study revealed that the behavioral data and the amplitude of the Ne were modulated by the mutual effect of age and by of tonality of the induced emotion. These results are then interpreted as consistent with the dopaminergic model of the Ne generation and of its cerebral substrate (Holroyd & Coles, 2008).

Performance Monitoring in Aging Endrass, T.2, Schreiber, M.1, & Kathmann, N.1 1 Humboldt University Berlin, Germany 2 Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Germany Many studies investigated performance monitoring in older populations and show reduced error-related brain activity, which is typically reflected by a reduction of the error negativity (Ne) in the event related potential. However, some learning studies failed to reveal group differences and older adults typically have similar error rates as younger adults. Therefore, it may be difficult to interpret age-related changes of performance monitoring. In this talk, I will present studies investigating experimental influences on performance monitoring in younger and older individuals. Thereby, we addressed the question as to whether various task demands could influence performance monitoring alterations. Although, older participants showed sensitivity to certain task demands, such as task difficulty and speedaccuracy instruction, performance monitoring activity was less error-specific and more monitoring activity was found Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

18


during correct response. Interestingly, with the speed-accuracy instruction older adults were able to increase their response speed, but by the expense of increased error rates. Thus, it might be assumed that an underlying cognitive deficit may lead to the recruitment of compensatory control mechanisms and thereby to alterations in performance monitoring.

Structural Brain Imaging Correlates of Memory Training in Middle and Old Age Engvig, A.1,2, Fjell, A. M.1,3, Westlye, L. T.1,4, Skaane, N. V.5, & Walhovd, K. B.1,3 1 Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway 2 Department of Geriatric Medicine, Vestre Viken Hospital Trust, Bærum hospital, Norway 3 Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Unit of Neuropsychology 4 KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Division of Mental Health and Addiction 5 Memory Clinic, Dept. of Geriatrics, Oslo University Hospital, Norway Objectives: Neuronal mechanisms underlying the well-documented behavioral effects of cognitive training are mostly unknown. The objective of the present studies was to investigate effects of 2-months memory training on short-term brain structure changes in older adults (mean age = 61) by means of magnetic resonance brain imaging. Methods: We chose to implement Method of loci training to exercise and improve verbal memory function in middle-aged and older adults. The training was undertaken in weekly group-sessions and at home comprising 40 training assignments in total; each assignment lasted on average 25 min. There were two training groups, a healthy community sample and a memory clinic outpatient sample with subjective memory impairment, and a no-contract control group, yielding a total N of 61. Brain structure changes following intervention were evaluated using three different MR-imaging suites optimized for longitudinal analysis: FreeSurfer, FSL, and Quarc. Results: Both training groups improved their verbal memory scores; the improvements were greater compared with the test-retest effects of no-contact controls. We found increases in cerebral cortical thickness and white matter integrity in healthy elderly undergoing memory training, compared with controls. The results were evident as an interaction effect comprising structural increases in the training group and/or decreases in the no-contact group. The healthy training group also showed longitudinal increases in hippocampal volume compared with controls. Finally, we found increases in cortical grey matter volumes in the patient sample. The training-related grey matter changes were comparable in magnitude and extent compared to the healthy training group; the training-related volume increases contrasted cortical decreases in controls. Greater pre-training hippocampal volumes correlated positively with benefit from intervention in the patient training

Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

group, but we found no apparent training effect on hippocampal volume change. Conclusion: Magnetic resonance brain imaging appears able to detect subtle structural changes attributable to memory training in middle-aged and older adults. MR-volumetry pre-intervention predicted treatment outcomes. The results implicate that training-related brain changes may not be restricted to healthy aging; increases in cortical volume were found in a memory clinic sample undergoing workup for cognitive impairment. The current studies included short-term assessments spanning less than 3 months. Studies evaluating the stability and duration of the present effects are needed.

Lost in Transition: Age-Related Impairments in Learning to Predict Future Reward Eppinger, B.1,2, Heekeren, H. R.2,3, & Li, S.-C.1,2 1 Chair of Lifespan Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Technical University Dresden, Germany 2 Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany 3 Department of Education and Psychology, Free University Berlin, Germany Objectives: To make deliberate and foresighted decisions we have to learn about the value of potential future rewards as well as the means to achieve them. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we investigated whether younger (20 to 30 years; n = 26) and older (65 to 80 years; n = 26) adults differ in their ability to learn to predict the value of future rewards. Methods: We applied a three-state Markov decision task with two reward conditions. In the immediate reward condition one action was rewarded at all three states (a small gain of 10 Cents), whereas the other action was punished (a small loss of 10 Cents). In the delayed reward condition one action was associated with small losses at the first two states and a large gain (50 Cents) at the last state. The other action resulted in two small gains at first two states and a large loss at the final state. Results: Behavioral results showed pronounced age-related impairments in learning to predict future reward. In contrast, we found no age differences in learning from immediate reward. Age-related impairments in learning to predict future reward were associated with a reduced recruitment of the right dorsolateral and left rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) in older compared to younger adults. Furthermore, we found that in younger adults learning performance in the delayed reward condition was associated with clearly identifiable behavioral change points. fMRI analyses that were informed by the behavioral change points showed greater activity before relative to after change points in the right dlPFC in younger but not in older adults. Moreover, in younger adults, change points in the dlPFC BOLD response time series were predictive of behavioral change points, this was, however, not the case for the elderly.

Hogrefe Publishing


Conclusion: Taken together, the current findings point to the important role of the dlPFC in linking subsequent states, actions, and rewards during learning to predict future reward. Age-related impairments in learning contingencies across multiple states seem to result from an under-recruitment of dorsolateral PFC in the elderly.

The Influence of Different Training Regimes on Executive Functions and Brain Activity in Healthy Old Adults Falkenstein, M. & Gajewski, P. D. Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Dortmund, Germany Objectives: Executive functions decline with increasing age. This is due to genetic predispositions and environmental factors. Lifestyle as well as education, nutrition, social relationships, physical and cognitive activity may affect the cognitive functioning in older age. Indeed, several reports show positive effects of physical activity and cognitive training. However, to our knowledge no study compared directly the effects of physical and cognitive training as well as relaxation training relative to a no-training group using behavioural and ERP measures. Methods: 142 healthy older participants (mean age 70 years) were randomly assigned to one of four groups: physical training, cognitive training, stretching and relaxation and a no-contact group. Training sessions took place twice a week for 90 min over 4 months. Executive functions were assessed using a cue-based task switching paradigm during an EEG recording. Results: The results showed training-induced changes of performance and ERP activity, particularly in the cognitive training group. In the task switching paradigm this benefit occurred primarily in mixing costs, indexing activation and maintenance of multiple task-sets in working memory. Moreover, the intraindividual variability of reaction times was significantly enhanced. In the ERPs more efficient response selection (N2) and an enhanced allocation of task resources (P3b) were observed. Finally, a substantial reduction of error rates was associated with enhanced error negativity (Ne) indexing error detection. Conclusions: These findings suggest that formal cognitive training may help to preserve and improve critical cognitive functions in aging, which can be investigated by ERP measures. Our results are in line with the idea that plasticity in brain functions exists in older age and illustrate the usefulness of systematic mental training which should in turn improve behaviour in everyday life situations.

Neurophysiological Approaches Towards an Earlier Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease Fallgatter, A. J.1, Heinzel, S.1, Hagen, K.1, Dresler, T.1, Ehlis, A.-C.1, Eschweiler, G.1, Maetzler, W.2, Berg, D.2, & Metzger, F.1 1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Tuebingen, Germany Hogrefe Publishing

19

2

Department of Neurology and Hertie-Institute, University of Tuebingen, Germany Objectives: Alzheimer’s Disease is one of the most prominent health problems worldwide. Current and future treatments have very limited success as long as the diagnosis is made very late in the individual disease progress, typically more than 20 years after start of the neurodegenerative process in the brain. Therefore, methods allowing an earlier diagnosis are urgently warranted. Methods: In the framework of the TREND-Study (Depts. of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tuebingen) a large number of elderly subjects with risk factors for Alzheimers (and Parkinson’s) disease are investigated in a longitudinal design with different methods potentially useful for an earlier diagnosis. Among these methods are (1) functional near- infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and (2) vagus-evoked somatosensory potentials (VSEP). fNIRS can be used for an in-vivo assessment of oxygenation changes in brain tissue. Due to its simple and quick applicability as well as the absence of side effects, fNIRS is particularly well tolerated by psychiatric patients and can hence markedly contribute to the understanding of the neurobiological basis of psychiatric disorders. Validity and reliability of fNIRS measurements to assess task-related cognitive activation have been repeatedly confirmed among healthy subjects. VSEP are measured as far-field potentials from scalp electrodes after an electrical stimulation of the auricular branch of the vagus nerve. VSEP are probably originating from the vagus nuclei in the brainstem. Results: fNIRS measurements in different studies indicate an altered cortical activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in elderly proands and, even more pronounced, in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Accordingly, prolonged latencies of VSEP were observed in elderly probands as well as in patients with mild cognitive impairment and with Alzheimer’s disease. Conclusion: Both neurophysiological measures fNIRS and VSEP are promising candidates for a test battery which may be useful for an earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease in future.

Age-Related Changes in Feedback Processing: Is There a Positivity Effect for Older Adults? Ferdinand, N. K. & Kray, J. Universitt des Saarlandes, Saarbrcken, Germany Objectives: Although there is general agreement that monitoring and evaluating the consequences of our behavior is important, there is disagreement about how exactly this is achieved in the human brain and whether feedback-induced learning is primarily driven by an events valence or its unexpectedness. Interestingly, in contrast to younger adults, older people sometimes show a bias towards the processing of positive information. In this study, we used an eventrelated potential (ERP) approach to (1) develop a paradigm, in which the effects of feedback valence and unexpectedness can be disentangled and (2) examine whether older adults show a positivity bias during feedback processing. Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

20


Methods: For this purpose, we developed a time estimation task in which positive, neutral, or negative feedback was given. To keep the frequency of positive and negative feedback low and thus unexpected, we used a procedure that adapted feedback to the participants’ performance. Feedback processing was measured by means of the Feedback-related Negativity (FRN), which is usually elicited in the ERP after unexpected negative feedback, and the P300, which reflects working memory updating after unexpected events. Results: We found that younger and older adults showed the same pattern of FRN Results: Unexpected positive and unexpected negative feedback generated larger FRNs than expected feedback. Also, older adults had only marginally lower FRNs than younger ones. In contrast to the FRN results, age differences and a positivity effect were found in the P300 results. Younger adults’ P300 was larger after positive than after negative feedback and larger after negative than intermediate feedback. Older adults also showed the largest P300 after positive feedback, but their P300 did not differ for negative and intermediate feedback. Conclusion: Our results suggest that a fast initial monitoring process, as reflected in the FRN, is sensitive to the expectancy of events irrespective of their valence in younger and older adults. In contrast, in a later evaluation process, associated with memory updating and indexed by the P300, negative feedback processing is selectively impaired in older adults while positive feedback processing is similar to that in younger adults.

Impact of Cardiovascular Health and Depressive Symptoms on Cognitive Ability in Healthy Aging Fernandes, M. A.1,2, Soncin, S.1, Robertson, A. D.2, Tyas, S. L.1,2, Roy, E. A.2, Heckman, G. A. W.2, & Hughson, R. L.2 1 Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada 2 Research Institute for Aging, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Objectives: As we age aspects of cognitive functioning, specifically performance on tests of episodic memory, decline. Similarly, cardiovascular health also declines as arterial stiffness and atherosclerotic plaque become more prevalent, making blood vessels lose some of their elasticity which, in turn, affects their capacity to deliver oxygen-rich blood to the brain. Along with this, feelings of depression can sometimes increase with age. Our study investigated how cardiovascular health and depressive symptoms relate, and contribute, to cognitive abilities in a population of healthy older adults. Methods: Participants’ (age 62–82; N = 45) performance on a standard battery of neuropsychological tests, including Digit span, Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, Trail Making Test, Stroop test, California Verbal Learning test (CVLT), and Warrington word and face memory test, was measured. Brain blood flow velocity through the middle cerebral artery was measured non-invasively using Transcranial Doppler ultrasound. Cerebrovascular reactivity was Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

assessed by quantifying the percent increase in blood flow velocity in response to breathing a hypercapnic gas mixture (5% carbon dioxide, 21% oxygen). The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) was used to quantify occurrence and frequency of depressive symptoms. Results: Total cerebral blood flow was positively correlated with immediate memory for words on the CVLT recall tests. Higher cerebrovascular reactivity, indicative of a higher potential to deliver oxygen to the brain, was positively correlated with immediate recall and with semantic clustering score on the CVLT memory test, at both short and long delays. Higher endorsement of depressive symptoms was associated with poorer memory for words on the CVLT long delay and Warrington test, and with poorer semantic clustering scores on the long delay CVLT test. No other neuropsychological tasks correlated with cardiovascular or depression measures. Stepwise linear regression revealed that total cerebral blood flow and GDS score explained just over 25% of the variance in a model for CVLT long delay recall performance. Cerebrovascular reactivity accounted for 12% of the variance in a model for semantic clustering on the CVLT test at long delays. GDS also explained 16% of the variance in a model for recognition performance on the Warrington words test. Conclusion: Cardiovascular health and depressive symptoms play a crucial role in explaining individual differences in memory performance in healthy older adults.

Top-Down Control of Attention and Aging Fimm, B. Lehr- und Forschungsgebiet Neuropsychologie, Neurologische Klinik, Aachen, Germany Attention is not a unitary phenomenon but a system performing different cognitive operations and representing a differential allocation of processing resources to signals. Current frameworks of attention distinguish between intensity and selectivity aspects, modes of allocation (exogenous/bottom-up or exogenous/top-down) and domains of allocation (space, time, sense and task) each being subserved by different neuronal networks. In our study, we measured different attentional aspects such as covert and overt orienting, working memory, flexibility, distractibility and crossmodal integration in a sample of 383 healthy subjects ranging from 19 to 80 years of age. We found differential effects of age on exogenous and top-down control of attention. These effects are discussed on the basis of agerelated structural and biochemical neuronal change and corresponding impact on attentional networks.

The Aging of Episodic Memory: A View From the Young-Adult Brain Friedman, D.1, Johnson, R. Jr.2, & Nessler, D.1 1 Cognitive Electrophysiology Laboratory, Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, USA Hogrefe Publishing


2

Brain and Cognition Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Queens College of CUNY, Flushing, New York, USA Objectives: A cardinal feature of cognitive aging is a decline in episodic memory, that is, the encoding and retrieval of personally-relevant experiences. In a previous paper, we (Nessler et al., 2006; Neuroimage) showed that, compared with young adults, older adults produced decreased ERP activity over left inferior prefrontal cortex (LIPFC) in a 400- to 1400-ms interval during episodic encoding. This reduction was interpreted as reflecting diminished semantic elaboration because it was associated with diminished subsequent recognition-memory performance and reduced recollection-based brain activity (left-parietal episodic memory effect) at retrieval (Nessler et al., 2007; NeuroReport). In the current study (Johnson et al., 2012; Psychology & Aging), we sought to provide causal support for this hypothesis by disrupting encoding processes during this interval in young adults. Methods: Young adults (N = 18; ages: 20–30) encoded nouns under deep, high-selection, semantic-orienting instructions. In 2 blocks, attention was divided by the inclusion of a simultaneous target-tone, detection task that was timed specifically to disrupt encoding in either the first or second half of a 300- to 1400-ms interval (during which ERP activity was reduced in older adults in Nessler et al., 2006). In one block the tones were presented in the first interval and in another block in the second interval. In a third, control block, tones were not presented. The ordering of the three types of blocks was counterbalanced across subjects. Results: Diverting resources for 550 ms during either half of the 300–1400-ms interval was associated with normal semantic retrieval at encoding, reduced subsequent episodic recognition accuracy, reduced free recall, and diminished recollection-related ERP activity. That is, we produced, in young adults, all of the signs of an age-related episodicmemory deficit. Conclusions: At least part of the well-documented agerelated episodic-memory decline is due to altered LIPFC activity during encoding owing to reduced levels of available processing resources. The reduced LIPFC activity which, as noted, has been associated with diminished semantic elaboration, may have precluded older adults from forming richly-detailed episodic memory traces. Without such traces, recollection-based processes would have been difficult to engage, resulting in reduction of the ERP sign of recollection and a decrement in memory performance.

Training Effects on P3 Potential in a Task-Switching Paradigm Gal, Z. A. Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary Hogrefe Publishing

21

Objectives: Age-related training effects on P3 potentials were studied in a go/no-go task-switching paradigm. We hypothesised that age-related amplitude differences would decrease after a practice session. Methods: Young (18–30 yrs) and elderly (60–75 yrs) women participated in the experiment (4 groups, 20 subjects for each group). One of each age group participated in 2 EEG sessions, 1 month apart (control group), the remaining participants practiced the task-switching in 8 sessions (1 h each) between the two EEG sessions (experimental group). 2:1 mapping of cue-to-task were used in a task-cueing paradigm in which either odd/even or vowel/ consonant decision was required, but 25% of the trials were ‘‘no-go,’’ cued by special characters. In the practice sessions 2 further tasks were involved: smaller/larger than 5 and small/capital letter decisions and cue-to-task mapping was 1:1 or 2:1. These parameters determined difficulty level of the task which was adjusted to the current performance of the participants. Results: In the cue-locked P3 there were no differences between the two sessions. Target-locked P3 component increased in both experimental age groups, but no difference appeared in the control groups. In the first session No-go P3 amplitude was smaller in the elderly participants. In the experimental elderly group the amplitude increased in the second session, that is, unlike in the elderly control group the age-related difference diminished after the training. Conclusion: Accepting that goal shifting and rule-activation is separated processes of the task-switch paradigm, we conclude that processes related to the insertion of a goal into the declarative working memory (WM) and deleting a previous goal are similar in young and elderly adults. These processes do not change with training. However, processes of procedural WM with function of stimulus-response matching may improve with training. The training also improves the efficiency of inhibitory processes in elderly, diminishing age-related differences.

The Impact of Financial Incentives on Motor Learning in Younger and Older Age Gajda, K., Slzenbrck, S., & Heuer, H. Leibniz-Research-Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Research group ‘‘Move,’’ Dortmund, Germany Objectives: Previous studies regarding visuomotor transformations focused on different aspects of learning, for example the type of visual feedback (continuous feedback vs. terminal feedback) or implicit and explicit components of adaptation to the visuomotor transformation. However, the influence of extrinsic motivation on motor learning has not been investigated yet and the relationship between motivation and the acquisition of a novel visuomotor transformation is still poorly understood. Here, we manipulated the motivation of younger and older participants while learning a visuomotor rotation. Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

22


Methods: Participants were divided into two different age groups (40 younger participants: 19–30 years, 40 older participants: 64–75 years). Each age group was divided into an experimental group (group ‘‘financial incentives’’) and a control group. The subjects learned a 60 counter-clockwise visuomotor rotation and received feedback related to their endpoint-accuracy in terms of a score. While group ‘‘financial incentives’’ received financial incentives rewarding movements with high end-point-accuracy to increase their extrinsic motivation, the control group only received a fixed monetary reward for participating in the experiment without additional financial incentives for accurate movements. The performance of the subjects was tested in post-tests with (adaptive shifts) and without (after-effects) the visuo-motor rotation. The following three hypotheses were tested: 1. The experimental groups learn the visuomotor rotation better than the control group. 2. The intrinsic motivation is influenced by the financial incentives. 3. There are age differences between the younger and the older participants regarding the adaptation to the visuomotor rotation and the motivation. Results: The results of the younger participants show that indeed participants in group ‘‘financial incentives’’ executed more accurate movements during practice than participants in the control group, but at the cost of slower movement times. Furthermore, group ‘‘financial incentives’’ showed a more adequate adaptive shift than the control group, but a lower intrinsic motivation after the experiment. These results are contrasted by the effects found for the older participants. Conclusion: The results of these studies show that increasing extrinsic motivation can boost motor learning in terms of end-point accuracy. However, more accurate movements are associated with slower movement times. Furthermore we show that extrinsic motivation reduces intrinsic motivation in the context of motor learning. Age differences and their potential causes will be discussed.

Decision Making and Error Monitoring in Elderly Employees: Neurobehavioral Correlates of WorkRelated Deterioration and Training-Induced Improvement Gajewski, P. D. & Falkenstein, M. Leibniz Research Center for Working Environments and Human Factors (IfADo), Dortmund, Germany Objectives: Due to the demographic change the age of employees will continuously increase. This may be problematic as aging is accompanied by declines in sensory, motor and cognitive functions. Particularly, the cognitive functions like working memory, decision-making and error monitoring, which are cue competences in many work situations are affected with rising age. Age-related cognitive decay can be accelerated by lifestyle or environmental Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

factors. One of them is a long-lasting unfavorable work like highly repetitive assembly line workplace. On the other hand, to counteract cognitive decline a number of intervention like nutrition, education, physical as well as cognitive activity can be applied. Methods: The present study consists of a cross-sectional and a longitudinal part. The cross-sectional study aimed at analyzing the relationship between aging, type of work (flexible vs. repetitive) and cognitive functions in 91 industry workers measured by a memory based task switching using behavioral and electrophysiological parameters (event-related potentials, ERPs). The longitudinal part was designed as a randomized, controlled training study with pre, post and a follow-up measure. In this part 60 new employees with repetitive work demands of the same factory participated in a 3 months computerized cognitive training. Results: The results of the first part of the study showed a strong reduction of performance and ERPs in particular the P3b (allocation of cognitive resources) and error negativity Ne (error detection) in elderly workers with a repetitive and timely restricted work relative to elderly employees with flexible type of work or young workers. In the second part of the study the trained participants showed substantially reduced error rates, larger frontocentral N2 associated with correct response selection and the Ne in error responses in the memory based task switching. The performance and ERP changes remained stable 3 months later after the training was finished. Conclusion: The study shows that age-related cognitive decline is accelerated by long-lasting unchallenging work as evidenced in high error rates and attenuated ERP components. The second part of the study provided evidence that cognitive training improves cognitive abilities like response selection (N2), and error processing (Ne) in older employees who were found to be impaired in the first part of the project. Moreover, the training-induced changes remained stable at least for 3 months after end of the training. Hence, cognitive training can be seen as an important intervention for improving key neurocognitive functions in elderly employees.

The Impact of Interference on Working Memory and Long-Term Memory in Aging Gazzaley, A. Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Departments of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Physiology, UCSF, San Francisco, CA, USA Objectives: Older adults experience cognitive deficits with advancing age that cross multiple domains, including attention, working memory and long-term memory. External interference is known to negatively impact memory abilities, and there is accumulating evidence that this is exacerbated in aging. The objective of this research is to characterize the neural mechanisms that underlie an impact of different types of external interference (i.e., distraction (irrelevant stimuli, with an attempt being made to ignore) Hogrefe Publishing


23

and interruption (stimuli receiving attention as a secondary task- multitasking) on working memory and long-term memory. Methods: I will present converging evidence from a series of studies that use novel experimental paradigms coupled with EEG and fMRI recordings to assess neural networks and temporal dynamics associated with memory performance in aging in the context of distinct sources of external interference. Results: Behavioral, EEG and fMRI evidence from our lab converge to reveal that older adults experience a diminished ability to implement top-down suppression mechanisms when confronted with irrelevant information, and that this deficit is associated with an impairment in working memory and long-term memory performance. Furthermore, our data suggests that suppression abilities are not abolished in aging, but are delayed, and that the deficit occurs whether participants are prepared or unprepared for the appearance of distractors. While memory impairments could be explained by excessive attention to distractors by older adults (a suppression deficit), impairment induced by interruption are mediated via a distinct underlying mechanisms. In the setting of interruptions, older adults disengage from a memory maintenance network and reallocate attentional resources toward the interrupting stimulus in a manner consistent with younger adults. However, unlike younger individuals, older adults fail to both disengage from the interruption and reestablish functional connections associated with the disrupted memory network. These results suggest that multitasking leads to more significant working memory disruption in older adults because of an interruption recovery failure, manifest as a deficient ability to dynamically switch between functional brain networks. Conclusion: Healthy aging is associated with increased susceptibility to a negative impact by external interference, both distraction and multitasking, that underlie age-related deficits in memory via distinct neural mechanisms.

overview of age-related connectivity changes within and between functional networks. Methods: In study 1, fMRI data was collected during performance of an oddball task, for 30 older and 12 younger participants. Areas showing a main effect of task were used as seed regions in functional connectivity analysis. The functional connectivity maps for each of the seed regions were clustered to identify functional networks. For each of the functional connectivity maps, age differences were examined. In study 2, eyes closed resting state fMRI data was collected for 40 younger and 40 older participants. A graph was constructed, by computing correlations between each pair of 235 functional areas. Age-related changes were examined for different complex network measures. Results: Study 1 confirmed the results of previous studies by showing a decline in connectivity within specific functional networks; the DMN and the somatomotor network. Surprisingly, additional increases in connectivity between the different functional networks were found in elderly. In study 2, using complex network measures, we showed that networks in the elderly became less distinct (decreased modularity) and that in specific networks involved in higher level cognitive functions, local efficiency decreased (DMN, cingulo-opercular and fronto-parietal control networks). In contrast, the visual and somatomotor networks showed an increase in between-network connectivity (participation coefficient). Conclusions: These results demonstrate that changes in functional connectivity are an important hallmark of the aging brain. A clear dissociation between functional networks emerged. While higher level networks lose internal connections, lower level sensory and motor networks increase their connections to other functional networks. The decrease in modularity in the aging brain shows that functional networks become less specific with age and that dedifferentiation also occurs on the level of functional networks.

Changes in Functional Networks in the Aging Brain Geerligs, L.1,2, Renken, R. J.2, Saliasi, E.2,3, Maurits, N. M.2,3, & Lorist, M. M.1,2 1 Experimental Psychology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands 2 NeuroImaging Center, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands 3 Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands Objectives: Communication between brain areas is essential for task performance. Brain areas can be grouped in functional networks, which are strongly connected and are involved in specific cognitive functions. With age, connectivity within specific functional networks, such as the default mode network (DMN), has been shown to decline, influencing cognitive functioning. Most studies so far, have been limited to connectivity changes within specific functional networks. In the current studies we give a complete

Does Age Increase Auditory Distraction of GoalDirected Behavior? Electrophysiological Correlates of High and Low Performance Getzmann, S. Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Dortmund, Germany Aging usually affects the ability to focus attention on a given task and to ignore distractors. However, aging is also associated with increased between-subject variability, and it is unclear in which features of processing older high-performing and low-performing humans may differ in goaldirected behavior. To study involuntary shifts in attention to task-irrelevant deviant stimuli and subsequent reorientation we employed an auditory distraction task and analyzed event-related potential measures (mismatch negativity, frontal P3a and reorienting negativity) of 35 younger, 35 older high-performing, and 35 older low-performing participants. Poor performance of the elderly in processing of deviant stimuli was associated with strong involuntary

Hogrefe Publishing


24


attention capture by task-irrelevant features and delayed reorienting to the primary features. In contrast, high performance was associated with intensified attentional shifting toward the target features, relative to the young participants. Thus, it appears that performance deficits in aging are due to higher distractibility in combination with deficits in the orienting-reorienting mechanisms.

Sensory, Motor, and Cognitive Task Switching in Younger and Middle-Aged Adults – A Functional MRI Study Godde, B.1,2, Trautmann, M.3, & Voelcker-Rehage, C.1,2 1 Jacobs Center on Lifelong Learning and Institutional Development, Bremen, Germany 2 AgeAct Research Center, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany 3 Institute for Psychology, University of Leipzig, Germany Objectives: Modern work requires high cognitive flexibility in the sense of multitasking or switching between tasks. Thus, in the light of the demographic change in most industrialized nations, it is of great interest to investigate the adaptive capacity of older workers. Particularly selecting the proper task operations and maintaining task goals seems to be highly sensitive to age. However, there is a lack of knowledge about age-related changes in task-switching in the work population younger than 65 years of age. Further, although behavioral and brain imaging studies accumulated detailed knowledge about underlying mechanisms, it remains still open to which amount more general and modality-independent or more task- and modality-specific control mechanisms are involved in task-switching. Methods: To approach these open questions we examined younger (25–35 years, n = 12) and older (55–65 years, n = 12) white collar workers of different occupations with functional MRI during performing task-switching in the sensory (tactile discrimination), motor (finger force modulation), and cognitive (rule recognition) domain. Tasks were presented in a randomized order in switch and non-switch conditions. Comparing switch with non-switch blocks across modalities we were able to separate mechanisms related to domain-specific processing from more general cognitive control processes in an age-dependent manner. Results: Older adults performed generally worse than younger adults in switch and non-switch task. Switch costs, however, did not differ between young and older adults in motor and cognitive tasks. Only in the tactile domain younger participants were less affected by task switching than older workers. FMRI data revealed that independent of task older adults generally required more frontal brain resources, whereas younger adults show more focal activations in domain-specific brain regions. Conjunction analysis (age, domain, and task) revealed common control regions for all tasks in inferior frontal and parietal cortex and cerebellum. Conclusion: Combined, age seems to be accompanied by general performance decrements. Our results indicate that older subjects need more brain resources for cognitive Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

control when switching task-sets to compensate for agerelated losses and to achieve similar switching performance as young adults. Thus adaptation after task-switching seems to be more demanding in old than in young adults.

Control of Spatial Attention in Aging Golob, E. Department of Psychology and Program in Neuroscience, Tulane University, USA Cognitive decline in normal aging is often seen in tasks requiring smooth coordination between attention and short-term memory, which is important for flexible, goaldirected behavior. The effectiveness of managing attention and short-term memory, termed ‘‘working memory capacity’’ (WMC), can be estimated with complex span tasks (e.g., verbal operation span, spatial symmetry span). Studies in young adults show that individual differences in WMC are strongly associated with higher level cognition such as fluid intelligence, which also decreases with age. Thus the study of WMC in aging may provide a link between basic aspects of attention control and higher-level cognition that is important in daily life. Here I will present findings from some of our studies in young and healthy older adults that examined auditory event-related potentials as a function of voluntary attention to regions of space and individual differences in WMC. Subjects attended to a location on either the far left or right of midline while distractor sounds were presented at locations up to 180 away from the attended location. As expected WMC was higher in young subjects on the verbal and spatial complex span tasks. In both young and older subjects cortical potentials to distractors showed gradient-like patterns after 200 ms. Amplitudes of the P3a increased as a function of the distance between distractor and attended locations. Later frontal negative slow waves showed a more focal gradient and lasted for 1 s. In older subjects the slopes of the P3a gradients were more shallow, especially in those with low WMC, and the slow waves were smaller. An earlier auditory cortical potential to distractors, the N100, was larger in a group of older high WMC subjects relative to older low WMC and all young subjects. The results suggest that aging is accompanied by a more diffuse allocation of attention over space, which may indicate a mechanism for reduced cognitive control. The modulation of neurophysiological age differences by WMC may reflect cognitive reserve.

Hindsight Bias and Aging Bayen, U. J. & Groß, J. Heinrich Heine University Dsseldorf, Germany Objectives: People tend to overestimate their prior knowledge of facts or events, once the actual facts or events are known. This phenomenon is called hindsight bias. In a standard paradigm, participants are asked for judgments Hogrefe Publishing


in response to a series of questions (original judgments, OJs). After a retention interval, participants are asked to recall these original judgments (recall of original judgments, ROJ). Solutions (correct judgment, CJ) are revealed for part of the questions (experimental items) and remains unknown for the other questions (control items). Hindsight bias occurs when ROJs lie closer to the CJ for experimental items compared to control items. Older adults show stronger hindsight bias than younger adults (Bayen et al., 2006; Bernstein et al., 2011). In this study, we investigated whether the poorer recall of OJs by older compared to younger adults can explain age differences in hindsight bias. Methods: A total of 87 younger and 41 older adults were asked to provide 96 OJs to difficult general-knowledge questions (e.g., ‘‘How high is the highest mountain on the moon (in meters)?’’). After a retention interval, participants were to recall all of their OJs (ROJ). For half of the questions, the CJ was provided. We manipulated the length of the retention interval (RI) to affect OJ recall performance. A group of young adults (N = 46) received a long RI (46 h) to reduce OJ recall performance, while the group of older adults received a short RI (20 min, N = 41). Additionally, a control group of younger adults (N = 41) received a short RI as well. Results: OJ recall rates in long-RI young adults and shortRI older adults were virtually equal (24% and 29%, respectively), and both differed significantly from those in shortRI young adults (39%). All three groups showed hindsight bias. However, hindsight bias was equivalent in long-RI younger and short-RI older adults, and both showed significantly larger hindsight bias than short-RI young adults. Multinomial model-based analyses supported the results obtained with traditional analyses. Conclusion: With a short retention interval, older adults show both poorer OJ recall and stronger hindsight bias, compared to younger adults. We, thus, replicated earlier findings on adult age differences in hindsight bias (Bayen et al., 2006; Bernstein et al., 2011). We further showed that younger adults’ hindsight bias amounted to that of older adults’, when younger adults’ OJ recall was reduced via a long retention interval. Thus, recall ability is a key variable in explaining age differences in hindsight bias. Results are in support of ideas of relative trace strength (Hell et al., 1988, see also Loftus, 1992).

Neural Reference-Ability Networks Across the Life Span Habeck, C., Barulli, D., Gazes, Y., Rakitin, B., Steffener, J., & Stern, Y. Cognitive Neuroscience Division, Department of Neurology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, USA Introduction: Cognitive aging has been conceptualized as changes in a set of well characterized reference abilities (Salthouse & Ferrer-Caja, 2003), rather than isolated changes on particular cognitive abilities, pursued in neuroimaging experiments targeted at ‘‘pure’’ cognitive Hogrefe Publishing

25

processes. This framework postulates that cognitive performance (and age-related changes thereof) on any task can be decomposed into independent contributions of four reference domains: (1) memory (MEM), (2) reasoning ability (FLUID), (3) speed of processing (SPEED), and (4) verbal intelligence (VOCAB). Construct validity for this framework implies that performance on tasks that belong to a single reference domain show stronger mutual similarities than performance on tasks that belong to different reference domains. The reference-ability framework was extended to neuroimaging to identify the neural-network correlates of the reference abilities, using both univariate and multivariate analysis. Methods: FMRI images were acquired for 51 subjects (age range: 20–73 years; mean: 49, std: 18), scanned during the performance of 12 cognitive tasks on a Philips Achieva 3T magnet. Univariate mean contrast maps were computed for common activation across all 12 tasks, and for each reference-ability. The resulting activation maps were thresholded at an uncorrected p-level of p < 0.001. Further, Principal Component Analysis was conducted across all tasks and subjects, and the resulting first Principal Component was covaried from every subject-task scan to remove subject effects that were invariant across all tasks. Univariate within-domain contrasts were then re-computed on the residualized data. In addition, voxel-wise contrasts with age were computed within each reference domain. Results and Conclusion: Univariate within-domain contrast maps showed positive activation in differential set of occipital, temporal, parietal and frontal areas, while all broadly showing decreased activation in the locations of the default-mode network. After residualization, de-activation within areas within the Default-Mode network was abolished. Relationships with age were sparse apart from the SPEED domain, where older participants showed greater activation younger participants in the supplementary motor area. The presentation will discuss these findings as well as findings of multivariate extensions of this analytic framework. Grant support NIH 1R01AG038465-01

Adult Age Differences in the Attentional Control of Representational Distinctiveness Hmmerer, D.1,2, Schuck, N. W.1,3, Heekeren, H. R.1,4, Lindenberger, U.1, Polk, T. A.5, & Li, S.-C.1,2 1 Institut fr Pdagogische Psychologie und Entwicklungspsychologie, Technische Universitt Dresden, Germany 2 Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany 3 Institute of Psychology, Humbold University Berlin, Germany 4 Department of Education and Psychology, Free University Berlin, Germany 5 Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA Aging is associated with problems in resolving conflict, for example in flanker tasks (e.g., Li et al. 2004, 2009). Recent Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

26


evidence suggests that these difficulties reflect an impairment in attentional control when processing conflicting stimulus inputs (Hmmerer et al., 2010). The present study tests this hypothesis by using multivariate pattern analyses (MVPA) to classify fMRI BOLD signal patterns while younger and older participants attended to conflicting aspects of the same visual input. The accuracy of MVPA in classifying trials with different attentional foci is used as an individual difference measure of attentional control. We tested whether this measure changes with age. We tested 48 younger adults (20–30 years) and 38 older adults (60–75 years). Subjects saw overlays of faces and houses. Overlaid stimuli were individually adjusted for subjective salience of faces and houses. Subjects focused on either the face or the house stimulus when categorizing stimuli as old or young. Stimulus inputs for the two attentional conditions (face or house) were identical. MRI scanning was carried out with a Siemens TRIO 3T scanner. Images from each run were slice-time and motion corrected, transformed into Talairach space and smoothed (5 mm). For the MVPA analyses, a support vector machine (SVM) classifier was used. The classifier was trained to distinguish the attentional focus. Training and testing was done using a leave-one-run-out cross-validation paradigm. In line with previous reports of age-related difficulties in processing conflicting stimuli, older adults responded less accurately than younger adults. Of specific interest to the present study, MVPA was less accurate in classifying the attentional focus from older subjects’ fMRI patterns than from those of younger adults. A control analysis showed that this was not the case when comparing the classification accuracy of left and right responses. This finding suggests that the observed age differences in classification accuracy for attention were not simply an artifact of age differences in BOLD signal noise. Previous work has found that the neural representations of different visual objects are less distinctive in older as compared to younger adults (Park et al., 2004). Here, we extend this finding and show that neural activity patterns associated with attending to different aspects of the very same stimulus are also less distinctive in older adults than in younger adults. This reduced ability of older adults to attentionally control conflicting stimulus input might contribute to their reduced ability of monitoring response conflicts related to conflicting stimulus inputs.

Using Distraction to Facilitate Remembering in Older Adults Hasher, L., Biss, R., Campbell, K. L., Joan Ngo, K. W., & Rowe, G. University of Toronto and Rotman Reseach Institute of Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Canada Objectives: Older adults are more vulnerable to distraction than are most young adults. We sought to determine if distraction could serve as a rehearsal opportunity for older adults such that we could reduce and even eliminate forgetting by our older participants. Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

Methods: We compared healthy older and younger adults, with each experiment having a minimum of 24 participants of each age. The experiments had three phases, a study phase (in which participants learned a list of words), a retention interval ( 15 min) and a test phase. The test could be recall or recognition. During the retention interval, some of the original words were presented as distraction in the context of an entirely different task. Results: Across a series of studies, older adults’ memory performance benefited from exposure to relevant distraction – sometimes showing no forgetting. This manipulation had little or no effect on young adults, consistent with their general ability to ignore distraction. Most participants were unaware of the relationship between the distraction and the to-be-remembered words. Conclusion: Older adults’ reduced ability to down regulate distraction can be used to reduce their forgetting in both recall and recognition tasks. These results are consistent with expectations based on Inhibitory Theory (e.g., Hasher, Zacks, & May, 1999; Lustig, Hasher & Zacks, 2007) and its predictions regarding age differences in the regulation of distraction.

On the Application of Explicit Strategies in Visuomotor Adaptation Hegele, M.1 & Heuer, H.2 1 Neuromotor Behavior Lab, Section Experimental Sensomotorics, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Germany 2 Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Dortmund, Germany Objectives: Adjustment to a visuo-motor rotation is known to be affected by ageing. According to previous studies, the age-related differences primarily pertain to the generation of explicit knowledge, whereas the acquisition of an (implicit) internal model of the novel visuo-motor transformation is unaffected. The present study aimed to assess whether these age-related differences are limited to the acquisition of explicit knowledge during practice or extend to the application of the acquired explicit knowledge in terms of deliberate strategic corrections. Methods: To this end, old and young participants performed aiming movements controlling a cursor on a computer screen. Visual feedback of direction of cursor motion was rotated 75 relative to the direction of hand motion. One half of the participants received an explicit pretraining of the rotation, whereas the other half practiced a similar task which was unrelated to the upcoming rotation. A set of posttests were used to disentangle explicit and implicit components of visuomotor adjustment. Results: Results show a residual age-related deficit in adaptive shifts despite comparable amounts of explicit knowledge due to prior cognitive training of the rotation. While younger adults were able to use this knowledge to fully compensate the rotation during goal-directed reaching movements, older adults still undercompensated the rotation in actual movement execution. This effect was particularly pronounced at higher levels of explicit knowledge as Hogrefe Publishing


the change of adaptive shifts with increasingly strong explicit shifts was stronger for the young than for the older participants. Conclusion: The study shows that the age-related difference in visuomotor adjustment also affects the application of the acquired explicit knowledge and thereby extends previous findings on the age-related deficit of the acquisition of explicit knowledge. We suggest that these results reflect a recalibration of motor and perceptual space in the elderly, which limits their application of explicit knowledge represented in perceptual space through strategic corrections of hand movements in motor space, thereby reducing overall visuomotor adaptation to a novel transformation. Results are discussed with reference to studies indicating that aging affects the representation of peripersonal sensorimotor space.

Differential Mechanisms for the Development of Prospective Memory Across the Lifespan Hering, A.1, Kliegel, M.1, Wild-Wall, N.2, Falkenstein, M.3, & Zinke, K.4 1 Dpartement de Psychologie, Universit de Genve, Switzerland 2 Department of Psychology, Hochschule Rhein-Waal (University of Applied Science), Kamp-Lintfort, Germany 3 Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Dortmund, Germany 4 Department of Psychology, Eberhard-Karls University Tbingen, Germany Objectives: Prospective memory (PM) is the ability to plan, remember, and execute delayed future intentions. PM is associated with executive functioning and is critical for successful functioning in everyday life. Behavioral findings demonstrate an inverted U-shaped pattern of PM development across the lifespan. The underlying neural mechanisms that might explain this pattern, however, are still unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate event-related potentials associated with PM across the lifespan. We focused especially on potentials related to cue detection (such as occipital-parietal N300) and their development across the lifespan. Methods: We investigated three age groups: adolescents (12–14 years), young adults (20–30 years), and older adults (65–75 years). All participants completed a computerized PM task where they had to judge two words as belonging to the same category or not. Additionally, participants had to remember to press a certain key when the words appeared in a certain color. Cue detection was manipulated by varying the salience (how easy it was to detect the cue based on color) of the PM cue. Results: Behavioral results revealed main effects of age and salience for PM performance. Further, analyses indicated differences between event-related potentials of interest (e.g., N300). Conclusion: Results support the behavioral pattern of PM development across the lifespan. Our results also suggest

Hogrefe Publishing

27

that this pattern might be associated with neural changes in cue detection and retrieval processes across the lifespan.

Errors, Aging and Personality: An Overview Hoffmann, S. Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Dortmund, Germany Objectives: The monitoring of one’s own actions is essential for adjusting behavior. In particular, response errors are important events that require behavioral adjustments. Furthermore, because of their neurophysiological implementation they contribute even to research questions dealing with the relation of cognitive control and aging, as well as personality traits. Methods: Correct and incorrect responses, as well as feedback to responses, are followed by brain activity originating mainly in the anterior cingulate, which can be measured reliably with event-related potential (ERP) techniques: each response is followed by a small negativity (Nc or CRN) in the ERP, which is strongly enhanced in incorrect trials (Ne or ERN). These neurophysiological correlates of response monitoring and evaluation can be classified even on the single-trial level in the EEG, thus providing the possibility to conduct fine graded analysis of the coupling of neurophysiological mechanisms and overt behavior. Results and Conclusion: The present talk summarizes and aims to integrate recent basic research about these topics and aims to provide an overview of the current state-ofthe art with respect to error monitoring and healthy aging.

Modeling the Effects of Aging on ProspectiveMemory Monitoring Horn, S.1,2 & Bayen, U. J.2 1 Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany 2 Heinrich Heine University, Dsseldorf, Germany Objectives: Remembering to perform intended actions after delays, referred to as prospective memory (PM), is essential for maintaining an independent lifestyle, particularly in old age. Successful PM often involves the allocation of attention to target events (e.g., monitoring processes). Therefore, response times in ongoing tasks are often prolonged when a PM task is embedded (the cost or interference effect of PM, e.g., Smith, 2003). Only few studies examined adult age differences in cost effects of PM, yielding mixed results. Methods: In the present study, we used a diffusion model to simultaneously assess effects on accuracy and response times in an ongoing lexical-decision task. Forty-six young adults and 43 community-dwelling older adults participated. Results: In line with previous findings (e.g., Ratcliff, Thapar, Gomez, & McKoon, 2004), older adults’ lexical


28


decisions were generally slower but more accurate in a baseline condition due to greater cautiousness (larger boundary separation) and longer nondecision time. With an embedded PM task, these same components were additionally increased in both age groups. Conclusion: These results suggest that the processes contributing to the cost effect of PM are similar in younger and older adults.

Motor Learning During Healthy Aging: From Mechanisms to Novel Interventions Hummel, F. C. Brain Imaging and Neurostimulation Lab, Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany Objectives: Decline in cognitive functions, including impaired acquisition of novel skills, is a feature of older age that impacts activities of daily living, independence and integration in modern societies. The integration of subjects into modern societies relies increasingly on their ability to acquire constantly new skills to master current technologies. Advancing age is paralleled by a reduction of the ability to acquire new skills, impacting the social and professional life. Within the presentation we present data regarding differences in motor learning between old subjects and young controls, potential underlying mechanisms and how these deficits can be interventionally modulated. These findings will be discussed in the light of recent literature. Methods: A multimodal approach including behavioral evaluation, transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation tDCS was used to assess motor learning in old and young subjects. Results, Conclusion: Old subjects show deficits in motor skill acquisition and learning. Resting state and eventrelated intracortical inhibition is reduced in old subjects compared to young (Heise, Zimerman, Hoppe, Gerloff, Wegscheider, & Hummel, in press). Non-invasive brain stimulation can enhance skill acquisition in old with persisting behavioural improvements into the retention phase (Zimermann et al., (2012). Driving neuroplasticity by tDCS might have reengaged and strengthened the neuromodulatory systems that control learning, resulting in increasing the fidelity, reliability, and power of cortical representations of the trained skill. One underlying mechanism involved might be impaired modulation of GABA-ergic inhibition in the motor cortex. These findings will be discussed in the light of current literature.

The Processing Capacity Requirements of Maintaining Upright Posture: Sensory Channels and Perceptual-Motor Integration in the Young and Elderly Jennings, J. R. & Redfern, M. S. University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

Our objective is to determine whether maintaining balance and avoiding falls, particularly in elderly individuals, impact the ability to concurrently process information. We use dual task paradigms combining reaction time and posture tasks. Reaction time tasks vary sensory, motor, and decision requirements. Posture tasks require standing on a platform that may rotate or move thereby inducing a postural response to maintain balance. The timing of reaction stimuli vis a vis the posture challenges is also varied. Thumb press reactions are recorded for the information processing tasks. The primary postural measure is the variation in the center of pressure of the participant assessed from force transducers on the balance platform in response to the perturbation. Both anticipating a postural challenge and reacting to it increase reaction time and, in some cases, more strongly when a choice is required. This interference between posture and information processing tasks is transient, lasting less than a half second. Postural adjustments are minimally influenced, i.e., the system seems to maintain ‘‘posture first.’’ The effects on both reaction time and posture are larger, and sometimes only present, in older participants. Sensory modality of the reaction stimulus modulates the results; reactions to auditory stimuli are slowed more than reactions to visual stimuli. With age the usual slowing of reaction time is observed as well as greater visual dependence of postural control. Maintaining posture requires information processing capacity, that is, attention. Simple information processing is slowed when postural challenges are anticipated and/or when they are responded to. This interference between postural control and information processing is prominent in the elderly but detectible in younger individuals. The interference is brief but potentially important when there is a risk for falls. Maintaining posture requires a continuous stream of perceptual-motor adjustments using multiple sensory inputs and motoric adjustments. When an information processing task requires information from a sensory channel not attended to for postural adjustment, then reaction speed is slowed. This does not occur when an attended channel is shared, for example, visual stimulus detection for reaction time and scene processing for balance. Non-veridical information that must be inhibited for optimal postural adjustment appears to significantly slow information processing in the elderly, but not the young. Similarly, maintaining posture requires perceptual-motor translations that slow any translations required by information processing and this added form of interference is also most prominent in the elderly.

Subjective Memory Impairment at the Pre-Dementia Stage of Alzheimer’s Disease Jessen, F. Deutsches Zentrum fr neurodegenerative Erkrankungen (DZNE), Klinik und Poliklinik fr Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Universittsklinikum Bonn, Deutschland Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a slowly progressive neurodegenerative disorder, which evolves over decades. Hogrefe Publishing


The manifestation of symptoms develops from normal cognitive function via memory impairment to full dementia within several years. Current research focuses on earliest disease detection in individuals with the aim of intervention at earliest time points. Recent research addresses the subjective experience of pre-dementia cognitive decline (subjective memory impairment, SMI) with regard to disease course prediction. The talk will summarize epidemiological and neuroimaging data on SMI in preclinical AD, which shows that SMI occurs before objective impairment. SMI is predictive of dementia at very early disease stages and becomes less predictive as objective impairment progresses. SMI loses it predictive power for the disease course at the stage of very early dementia.

Age-Related Differences in Filtering, Attentional Control, and Working Memory Capacity Jost, K.1, Schwarzkopp, T.1, & Mayr, U.2 1 RWTH Aachen University, Germany 2 University of Oregon, USA Objectives: It is well-known that working memory functions decline with age. The reasons for this decline, however, are not well understood. A factor that has proven critical for general individual differences in visual working memory capacity is the efficiency of filtering irrelevant information. In a series of experiments we examined by means of event-related potentials and behavioral data to what degree this factor is also responsible for age differences in working memory. Methods: In a short-term-memory task, relevant information (i.e., to-be stored information) was presented along with irrelevant material. The contralateral delay activity measured in the retention interval was used to assess individual participants’ filtering efficiency. Moreover, we extended this basic paradigm and introduced a situation in which the filter settings switch from trial to trial. Results: The results indicate that the ability to filter out irrelevant information is a critical factor of individual differences in working memory performance. In contrast, age effects are present in the time course of filtering. Moreover, we also found older adults to be less flexible in adjusting filter settings to changing requirements. Conclusion: All in all, the findings show that separable components of filtering contribute to variations in WM capacity and that older adults are not simply like less efficiently performing young adults.

Improving Executive Control in Younger and Older Adults: Effects of Induced Positive Affect Karbach, J. Saarland University, Saarbrcken, Germany Objectives: Recent evidence indicated that induced positive affect improved executive control in healthy young adults and reward-based learning processes in patients suffering Hogrefe Publishing

29

from Parkinson’s disease. These effects have been attributed to transient boots in midbrain and striatal dopaminergic activity. However, so far there is no evidence for age differences in the effect of induced positive affect on task-switching abilities in healthy younger and older adults. Method: In the present study, we investigated 40 younger adults (mean age = 21.3 years) and 40 older adults (mean age = 72.4 years). In order to assess baseline cognitive abilities, participants first performed a battery of cognitive tasks, including measures for executive control, perceptual speed, sematic knowledge, working memory, and fluid intelligence. Afterwards, they watched a short video clip (about 7 min). Half of the subjects saw classic cartoons and the other half documentaries. Finally, all participants performed a switching task without external task cues, allowing the assessment of two domains of executive control (goal maintenance and switching). Before and after the switching task, subjects completed a questionnaire assessing their affective states. Results: For both younger and older adults, our analyses showed no differences in cognitive baseline performance between the participants reporting an increase in positive affect after seeing the video clips and those who did not. Importantly, data of the switching task showed no between-group differences in terms of goal maintenance, but participants with increased positive affect were more efficient in terms of task switching in both age groups. Conclusion: Induced positive affect modulated flexibility but not maintenance in a switching task in both younger and older adults. This finding is consistent with previous evidence and most likely caused by dopaminergic increases in the striatum.

The Neural Correlates of Emotional Arousal and Valence Processing in Healthy Ageing: Insights From fMRI Kehoe, E. G., Toomey, J. M., Balsters, J. H., & Bokde, A. L. W. The Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems Group, Discipline of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland Objectives: With advancing age positive emotional valence tends to be prioritised, an observation termed the ‘‘positivity effect.’’ Previous studies have indicated increased brain activation in response to positive valence in key emotional processing regions such as the amygdala and prefrontal cortex (PFC). The aim of this study was to investigate whether there are age-related changes in the neural substrates of emotional arousal processing, a question which is currently unresolved. Methods: We used fMRI to investigate how a group of 23 young and 23 older, healthy women processed and encoded emotional images which were either positive or neutral in valence, and which varied in arousal level. Using a parametric modulation approach we examined how brain activation varied with single-trial subjective ratings of valence and arousal, and whether this differed with age. Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

30


The participants also performed a surprise recognition test several days after the encoding scan. The data were analysed using AFNI and FSL. Results: In accordance with the positivity effect we found that the older group showed greater activation to positive valence, in the left amygdala, left middle temporal gyrus and right lingual gyrus. In contrast however, they showed reduced reactivity to emotional arousal, mostly in occipital and temporal visual cortices bilaterally. Follow-up analyses of the brain activation in relation to memory performance revealed however that the older adults showed no positivity bias in memory, while the young adults did show greater amygdala activation in response to valence for remembered versus forgotten trials. Conclusion: This study represents the first of its kind to clearly dissociate how aging affects the neural correlates of emotional arousal and valence. The changes in arousal processing may in part be mediated by the functional reorganization evident in the aging brain, such as reduced activation of the posterior cortices as described by the posterior-anterior shift in ageing (PASA) effect. The absence of the positivity bias in memory in the older group may have been mediated in part by the fact that the task was optimised to equilibrate performance and facilitate fMRI data analysis. It may be that the positivity bias in memory performance in older adults is related to task difficulty, with positive valence rescuing memory function.

Development of Prospective Memory in Old Age: A Story of Losses and Gains Kliegel, M.1, Hering, A.1, Rose, N. S.2, Craik, F. I. M.2, Rendell, P. G.3, Moreno, S.2, & Bidelman, G. M.2 1 Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland 2 Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest, Toronto, Canada 3 School of Psychology, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia Objectives: Prospective memory (PM; i.e., memory for delayed intentions) declines with age and is important for functional independence, yet few studies have attempted to train these abilities in older adults. Thus, the aim of the study was to test whether PM retains plasticity in old age. Methods: We developed a computerized prospective memory training based on the Virtual Week paradigm (Rendell & Craik, 2000). Training participants played the game in twelve, 1-h sessions over 1 month. Measures of neuropsychological functions, lab-based PM, event-related potentials (ERPs) during performance on a lab-based PM task, activities of daily living, and real-world PM were assessed before and after training. Performance was compared to both no-contact and active control groups. Results: PM on the Virtual Week game dramatically improved following training relative to controls, suggesting PM plasticity is preserved in older adults. Relative to control participants, training did not produce reliable transfer to other laboratory tasks, but was associated with a reduction Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

of ERP components (N300 over occipital cortex and sustained positivity over frontal cortex) associated with processing PM cues, indicative of more automatic PM retrieval. Additionally, training produced far transfer to real-world outcomes including performance on activities of daily living and real-world PM. Conclusion: PM retains plasticity in old age. Yet, mechanisms of transfer need to be examined further.

It’s All in the Wrist: Neural Substrates of Rhythmic Timing in Young and Older Professional Musicians and Controls Krampe, R., Wenderoth, N., Lavrysen, A., & Swinnen, S. KU Leuven, Belgium 80 young (20–35 yrs) and older (54–67 yrs) professional musicians and age-matched novices (20 in each group) performed unimanual tapping tasks, which either required lowlevel timing,rhythmic sequencing, or switching between different rhythms. Data was collected during two fMRI scan sessions with (for novices) six laboratory training sessions in between. Professional musicians of both age groups outperformed novices and age-effects were pronounced in novices and in tasks requiring sequencing or cognitive control. Besides well-documented motor networks active in all groups, we found that novices heavily relied on parieto-prefrontal networks (Left IPS, Right IPL, R+L DLPFC) for sequencing and even more so for switching tasks. In contrast, expert musicians showed no (young musicians) or less activation (older musicians) of prefrontal regions or IPS in these tasks. Instead, musicians showed pronounced activation in the primary sensorimotor cortex. Acquisition and maintenance of high-level motor control apparently amounts to a gradual release from domain-general cognitive control through optimizing task-specific ‘‘lower-level’’ functions.

Elderly Persons Working Night Shifts: The Role of Psychological Well-Being Concerning Bright Light Effects on Cognitive Performance Kretschmer, V., Griefahn, B., & Schmidt, K.-H. Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Dortmund, Germany Objectives: The present investigation examined whether the relationship between light exposure and cognitive performance is mediated by psychological well-being in elderly night shift workers. So far, the role of well-being has been neglected in the relationship between bright light and cognitive functioning. The variables sleepiness and mood were applied as indicators of psychological well-being. Cognitive performance was measured in terms of the variables concentration, working memory, and divided attention. Methods: A total of 32 test persons (16 women, 16 men, 48–68 years) worked in three consecutive simulated night Hogrefe Publishing


shifts. Treatment group (N = 16) received a bright light exposure (3000 lx) and control group was exposed to a constant normal room illumination (300 lux). Concentration, working memory and divided attention were assessed by computer-based cognitive performance tasks. The expected mediators sleepiness and mood were recorded by wellestablished questionnaires. Results: Mediation analyses were conducted to determine direct, total, and indirect effects in simple mediation models. In addition, the bootstrap method was used to detect mediation effects. Results indicate that sleepiness and mood could completely be excluded as mediators in the relationship between light exposure and cognitive performance. Sleepiness led to an underestimation of the positive bright-light effect on concentration performance. Mood showed only a random effect due to the positive bright-light effect on working memory. Conclusion: This study underlines that psychological wellbeing of elderly persons is not a critical component in the treatment of bright light on cognitive performance in the night shift workplace. It becomes evident that bright light has a strong direct and independent effect on cognitive functioning, particularly on working memory and concentration, in elderly persons during night shifts. As a recommendation, we propose to provide higher illumination levels for visual tasks in the night shift workplace to improve cognitive performance and to maintain or increase work productivity of elderly night workers. Nevertheless, for practical purposes, it proves difficult to provide optimal lighting conditions for night shift workers of all age groups.

Age-Related Associative Memory Deficits for Verbal and Visual Stimuli Kper, K. & Zimmer, H. D. Brain & Cognition Unit, Saarland University, Saarbrcken, Germany Objectives: Age-related memory deficits are more pronounced for associations between items than for single items, indicating that older adults may suffer from a binding deficit. Binding processes can be facilitated when several stimuli are perceived as a unitized whole rather than distinct items. We hypothesized that visual stimuli can be unitized more easily than verbal stimuli. In the present study, we thus examined memory performance in older and younger adults for single items and associations between items that were either presented verbally or visually. Methods: In the context of a route learning task, older and younger participants were instructed to memorize landmarks in combination with directions. Landmarks and directions were either presented as words (verbal condition) or as pictures and pictorial direction arrows (visual condition). In a subsequent test phase, participants had to make an old-new decision on identically repeated landmarkdirection pairs (old), new landmark-direction pairs (new) and old landmarks paired with a different direction than the one used in the study phase (recombined). Hogrefe Publishing

31

Results: In both age groups, memory performance was worse for recombined item pairs compared to old and new pairs. This memory deficit for recombined pairs was more pronounced in older than in younger adults. Across all item types, memory performance was additionally worse in the verbal compared to the visual condition. Conclusions: Our data corroborate the idea of an associative memory deficit in older adults and furthermore indicate that both item memory and associative memory can be improved by presenting stimuli visually rather than verbally.

Do Elderly Perform Worse When Intentionally Switching Auditory Attention in Cocktail-Party Situations? Lawo, V. & Koch, I. Institute of Psychology, RWTH Aachen University, Germany Objectives: Using an auditory task-switching variant of dichotic listening, we examined age-related differences in the ability to intentionally switch attention between two speakers. Methods: In our task, young (Mage = 23.2 years) and older adults (Mage = 66.6 years) performed a magnitude judgment task on spoken number words. The sex of the task-relevant speaker was indicated by a cue prior to auditory stimulus onset. The cue–stimulus interval (CSI) was either short or long and varied randomly trial by trial. Results: We found clear performance costs with instructed attention switches. These auditory attention switch costs decreased with prolonged CSI. Older adults were generally much slower (but not more error prone) than young adults, but switching-related effects did not differ across age groups. Conclusion: These data suggest that the ability to intentionally switch auditory attention in a selective listening task is not compromised in healthy aging. We discuss the role of modality-specific factors in age-related differences.

Is There a Communicative Frailty? Lerch, M.1 & Decker-Maruska, M.2 1 Akutgeriatrie und Frhrehabilitation der Krankenhuser der Diakonie Mark-Ruhr, Iserlohn and Schwerte, Germany 2 Geriatrie, Krankenhaus St. Barbara Attendorn GmbH, Attendorn, Germany Background: According to Habermas (1) the normative base of a society is speech, which, as a interpersonal communication tool, enables social interaction. Tesch-Rçmer (2) postulates, that every person, esp. the elderly, requires the functionality of its ‘‘transmitter and receiver’’ organs to guarantee an every-day interaction and the prevention of a possible (social) frailty (depression, isolation, deprivation) (Strawbridge (3)) that arises from it. Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

32


Method: In 2 geriatric departments the communicative abilities (aphasia (global, sensory, amnestic), hearing impairment) of all patients admitted were correlated with their amount of (social) frailty (Barthel index, MNA, IADL, GDS, MMSE etc.) Results: In our survey of > 1500 geriatric patients, we found approx. 18% with aphasia and approx. 69% with a relevant hearing impairment. In the majority of the communicative impaired patients we found a significant correlation between the degree of their reduced ability of interaction and the geriatric key figures like nutrition, self-sufficiency, mood, but not in cognition or the handgrip strength. Conclusion: An impaired communicative ability (‘‘communicative’’ frailty) can be seen as ‘‘multiplyer ‘‘ for all risk factors for overall frailty, where its manner and manifestation determines the impairment of the amount of self-assertion in the geriatric clientele. Therefore the communicative decline constitutes an important, but frequently underestimated dimension of frailty in the elderly.

Dynamics in Cognitive Ageing; Evaluating Attention and Inhibition Lorist, M. M.1,2, Saliasi, E.2,3, Maurits, N. M.2,3 & Geerligs, L.1,2 1 Experimental Psychology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands 2 NeuroImaging Center, University of Groningen, The Netherlands 3 Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands Objectives: A pressing challenge is to understand the various ways in which aging affects cognitive performance and which mechanisms underlie the individual differences in age-related effects on cognition. In different studies, we examined these dynamics in young and older individuals, focusing on visual selective attention mechanisms. Methods: Brain activity (EEG (study 1) and fMRI (study 2)) was measured during performance of a visual selective attention task. Participants were instructed to locate a target letter on relevant spatial positions on the screen and to ignore information on irrelevant positions. The extent to which response times were affected by a target letter presented on an irrelevant location was used as a measure of performance efficiency. Power and phase locking values were computed between frontal and occipito-parietal regions of interest (ROIs) in study 1. In the fMRI study, activity and connectivity elicited by different conditions (target, irrelevant target and non-target trials) were examined and compared between age groups. Results: Comparison of conditions showed that participants, especially the elderly, were slower in irrelevant target trials compared to non-target trials. In study 1, we observed increased alpha phase locking between frontal and occipito-parietal regions in the pre-stimulus interval, which was associated with better performance in both age groups. Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

Phase locking in the beta band was related to better suppression of irrelevant information in the elderly group only. In study 2, we found that brain activity increased in irrelevant target compared to non-target trials in areas implicated in spatial attention. In addition, connectivity between these areas increased in irrelevant target compared to non-target trials. Both the activity and connectivity increases were associated with less efficient performance. Conclusion: With increasing age, the ability to suppress irrelevant information declines. In order to decrease distraction from irrelevant stimuli, some participants were able to prepare for the upcoming stimulus, as reflected in increased alpha power and phase locking. Moreover, elderly appear to use increased connectivity in the beta band as a compensation mechanisms to maintain adequate performance. In addition, increased distraction by irrelevant stimuli seems to be related to increased activity and connectivity of areas related to spatial attention, possibly reflecting re-orientation to stimuli on relevant spatial positions.

Functional Approaches to Cognitive Interventions: Stabilizing Versus Improving Performance as a Training Goal Martin, M., Mrillat, S., & Jncke, L. University of Zurich, University Research Priority Program ‘‘Dynamics of Healthy Aging’’ and International Normal Aging and Plasticity Imaging Center (INAPIC), Switzerland Objectives: Typical intervention and training designs in healthy aging research focus on the plasticity of elementary processes and examine to which degree improvements transfer to untrained processes, higher-order processes, and everyday functioning. Findings suggest a substantial amount of improvement potential, but often relatively little transfer. We propose a complementary functional approach to cognitive interventions that aims at stabilizing higherorder cognitive and non-cognitive goal functions. Methods: We present a conceptional model for functional training approaches and present data from several training and imaging studies using this approach. Results: We demonstrate how the training-induced improvement and brain-changes in elementary processes are related to stabilizing higher-order functioning in old age. Conclusion: The model offers new insights into multiple simultaneous ability learning and the plasticity of individual resource and ability orchestration. Methodologically, it suggests to use multiple and variable simultaneous ability recruitment to stabilize higher-order cognitive and non-cognitive functioning in variable everyday environments. Practically, this suggests to measure cognitive activities directly in everyday environments (‘‘lab to life’’ strategy) and to use empirical research to determine the elements, processes and their interactions that support behavioral and structural stabilization. In addition, we speculate about using the design and use of everyday environments as systematic cognitive Hogrefe Publishing


training environments leading to improvements in elementary processes measured in typical laboratory tasks (‘‘life to lab’’ strategy).

Age Differences in Decisions Under Risk Mata, R., Frey, R., & Hertwig, R. Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Germany Objectives: Real life seldom entails the luxury of summarized information about risky options. Instead, people often need to search for information and learn about environmental contingencies in order to make decisions, that is, they need to make decisions from experience. Aging is associated with cognitive and learning deficits with important consequences for decision making (Mata, Josef, SamanezLarkin, & Hertwig, 2011) – but do these always translate into poor choices in decisions from experience? We aimed to clarify the circumstances leading to age differences in decisions from experience. Methods: We report two studies investigating age differences in decisions from experience with a sampling paradigm (Hertwig, Barron, Weber, & Erev, 2004). Study 1 asked younger and older adults to make 12 decisions concerning monetary risky prospects (N = 121). Study 2 used the same paradigm but gave younger and older adults portable devices for 1 week to collect about 84 decisions per individual (N = 70). Results: We find no differences in the amount or patterns of search, nor quality of choices, and no age differences as a function of gain/loss domain. Moreover, computational modeling suggests that both younger and older adults relied extensively on a simple value-updating strategy. In sum, behavioral and computational modeling of the data suggests that younger and older adults are remarkably similar in their search and choice behavior most likely because they relied on a simple decision strategy. Conclusion: We propose that both younger and older adults may successfully rely on a simple and effortless updating strategy, and as such limitations in cognitive abilities are not related to age differences in search or choice in the sampling paradigm. We interpret these findings in light of the principle of ecological rationality that holds that superior cognitive abilities are not always necessary to perform well in decision tasks because simple strategies can achieve remarkable performance in many environments (Mata, Pachur, Helversen, Hertwig, Rieskamp, & Schooler, 2012).

Increased Reactivation Aversion Effect in Old Age Maylor, E. A. & Schlaghecken, F. Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, UK Objectives: Aspects of perceptuo-motor control were compared in young and older adults using a hybrid primeSimon task. Methods: Two groups of 20 participants (mean ages of 20 and 70 years) responded to the identity of left-/rightHogrefe Publishing

33

pointing arrows by pressing keys with the left/right hand. Targets were preceded by left-/right-pointing arrow primes at fixation (compatible or incompatible prime) and appeared randomly on the left/right of the screen (congruent or incongruent target). Results: Responses were faster and more accurate with compatible than with incompatible primes (priming effect), and for congruent than for incongruent targets (Simon effect). Responses were particularly slow on compatibleincongruent trials, replicating an earlier finding attributed to a reluctance to reactivate a just-discarded response (reactivation aversion effect, RAE; Schlaghecken, Refaat, & Maylor, 2011). Gratton effects (influences of the previous trial’s compatibility/congruency on responses to the current trial) were entirely domain-specific in both age groups (i.e., previous prime compatibility influenced priming effects; previous target congruency influenced Simon effects). Older participants produced similar priming effects to young participants, but produced larger Simon effects, RAEs, and Gratton effects. Of these, however, only the RAE increase remained significant after taking various models of generalized age-related slowing into account. Conclusion: Whereas some aspects of cognitive control remain relatively intact in old age (e.g., online context adaptation as reflected in the Gratton effect), other aspects are impaired (e.g., rapid successive activation/inhibition/reactivation of competing responses as reflected in the RAE).

Running Against Dementia – The Effects of Physical Exercise Training in the Elderly on Cognition, Brain Structure and Function and Neurotrophic Factors Mller, N. & Goerke, M. German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Magdeburg, Germany A number of studies suggest a crucial role for adult hippocampal neurogenesis in the formation of new episodic memories. Both, neurogenesis and episodic memory function, decline with increasing age. Since physical exercise has been shown to increase adult hippocampal neurogenesis in rodents, it is of great interest whether physical exercise training is sufficient to increase adult hippocampal neurogenesis and, therefore, improve memory performance in elderly humans. To address this question, 32 healthy subjects (aged 62– 77 years, mean age 68.8 years) were randomly assigned to either a physical exercise training group – who were trained on a treadmill three times a week for 30 min, or to a relaxation training group – who were trained in progressive muscle relaxation two times a week for 45 min. Before and after the training period all subjects underwent a physical fitness test, an extensive neuropsychological assessment, and structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging. Furthermore, at fixed time points before, during and after the training period, blood samples were taken to examine changes in serum levels of brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF), which is a mediator of cell proliferation in the hippocampus. Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

34


Currently the data are being analyzed and results will be presented in this talk.

The Mismatch Negativity as an Index of Normal and Abnormal Brain Aging Ntnen, R. Department of Psychology, Univ. Tartu, Tartu, Estonia Center of Functionally Integrative Neurosciences (CFIN), Univ. rhus, rhus, Denmark Institute of Behavioral Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland The mismatch negativity (MMN) is an involuntary electrophysiological response to any discriminable change in repetitive auditory stimulation (‘‘standards’’), hence providing an objective index of auditory discrimination accuracy. With aging, this discrimination accuracy, as indexed by the MMN, is gradually reduced, with the age-related change starting as early as at the early mid-age. Gap-detection MMN is particularly affected, probably indexing the deterioration in perceiving rapid stimulus patterns such as speech sounds. When the stimulus rate is gradually reduced in a stimulus block, the MMN finally disappears: sensory memory of standards no more extends to the moment of delivery of the next deviant stimulus. In this manner, the (short-term) sensory-memory duration can be determined by using the MMN. In young healthy subjects, this duration approximates 10 s but is gradually shortened with aging. This age-related shortening of sensory-memory traces is considerably accelerated by chronic alcoholism and neurogenerative diseases such as Alzheimer0 s disease. MMN data show that in patients with Alzheimer0 s disease, the initial perception and memory-trace formation occur normally but this information cannot be retained longer than 1–2 s. This is in an interesting contrast with the MMN data pattern obtained in patients with schizophrenia suggesting that in them even the initial memory-trace formation is abnormal, whereas this deficient memory trace can be normally retained.

Prediction of Cognitive Decline in Elders at Risk for AD: The Role of Cognitive Control, Intra-Individual Variability and fMRI Nielson, K. A. Marquette University and Medical College of Wisconsin, USA Objectives: Although cognitive changes are the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), sensitive markers of future decline are desperately needed to facilitate the early deployment of interventions and preventions for AD. My laboratory examined intra-individual variability (IIV) of memory response times and cognitive control, via correct rejections of foil trials, as novel predictors of AD risk and future cognitive decline. Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

Methods: Study 1: a famous name task during fMRI with 87 apolipoprotein-E (APOE) e4 genotyped healthy elders, examined encoding (fame decision) and retrieval (familiarity decision) in those varying in AD risk: 31 Low Risk, 39 Intact e4+, 17 MCI. Coefficient of variation of reaction time (CVRT), measuring IIV, and mean RT were examined as predictors of age and AD risk. Study 2: 99 healthy, APOE genotyped elders intact at baseline were assessed again 18 months later and categorized as either cognitively Stable or Declining via neuropsychological testing. e4 was more frequent in Declining elders. Baseline retrieval of famous names viewed during scanning, distinguishing hits and correct rejections (CR), were examined as predictors of group. Results: Study 1: Predicting risk was poor when using RT alone, but the addition of encoding and retrieval CVRT to the model yielded significant prediction of e4 risk not due to age. Prediction of MCI vs. low risk was strong, and best, with the combination of mean RT and CVRT. Right caudate activation during fame discrimination (encoding), which reflects response planning, correlated negatively with RT and CVRT, and positively with e4. Study 2: Stable and Declining subjects were comparable at baseline on hits, but Declining elders had fewer CR. CR and e4 effectively predicted future cognitive decline, while measures of retrieval (hits) were not effective predictors. Further, hippocampal activation during encoding of the names primarily mediated the relationship between CR and cognitive decline. Conclusion: IIV was sensitive to risk for AD beyond what response time or accuracy could distinguish. IIV for RT appears to index early caudate dysfunction. Further, the ability to reject foil items in recognition was predictive of future cognitive decline, which appears to hallmark early hippocampal dysfunction. These factors appear sensitive to future cognitive decline earlier than traditional measures of memory success and failure.

Frontal Cortex Efficiency: Relation to Aging and Genetics Nyberg, L. Ume Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Sweden Objectives: The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is vital for many functions, including working memory. DLPFC functioning relates to dopaminergic neurotransmission in a non-linear fashion. This non-linear relationship may account for observations of higher DLPFC responses of older than younger adults when working-memory demands are low, along with higher responses for young when the demands increase. A similar pattern has been found in studies of the Val158Met COMT gene, such that COMT val carriers show higher DLPFC responses than COMT met carriers at lower levels of working-memory demands, whereas the opposite is seen when the demands increase. Common to elderly and COMT val carriers could be lower levels of synaptic dopamine, translating into Hogrefe Publishing


reduced DLPFC efficiency. However, several inconsistent results have been reported, and the objective here was therefore to address this issue using data from a large-scale imaging study. Methods: We examined the fMRI BOLD signal during working-memory maintenance and manipulation in relation to aging and COMT val/met status in a representative sample of 356 healthy adults ranging in age between 25– 80 years. Results: Younger adults and met-carriers showed maximal BOLD response in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during manipulation, whereas elderly and val-carriers displayed elevated DLPFC-responses during the less demanding maintenance condition. Conclusion: The observed inverted relation support a link between dopamine and frontal cortical efficiency.

Cognitive Outcomes of White Matter Hyperintensities in Normal Aging and Late Life Depression Potter, G. G., Sherif, Y., McQuoid, D. R., & Payne, M. E. Duke University Medical Center, Durham, USA Objectives: White matter hyperintensities (WMH) on brain MRI are associated with age-related cognitive deficits, and some evidence suggesting a more profound effect in latelife depression (LLD) than normal aging. Numerous questions remain about the association of periventricular (PVH) versus deep white matter hyperintensities (DWMH) to cognitive function and cognitive decline, whether these associations are different in LLD, and what psychological and lifestyle factors may moderate these associations in normal aging and LLD. The objective of the current study was to examine these issues in a sample of individuals with LLD enrolled in a longitudinal treatment study and a comparison sample of nondepressed older adults. Methods: Individuals aged 60 and over with LLD and matched controls received neuropsychological testing annually and had MRI at 1.5 T every 2 years. We used a semiautomated method to classify PVH and DWMH from MRI. We used linear regression and mixed models to examine the association of PVH and DWMH to baseline cognitive performance, and also over a 6-year follow up. We also examined moderating associations of depression, vascular comorbidity, psychosocial factors, and lifestyle variables. Results: At baseline, higher PVH was associated with lower performance on multiple cognitive measures, while DWMH had a limited association to cognition. A similar pattern was present longitudinally, with higher PVH predicting worse cognition on a subsequent assessment. Individuals with LLD had more PVH than nondepressed controls, but there was no clear interaction with cognition. Vascular comorbidity, psychosocial factors, and lifestyle variables had associations with WMH, and associations were present on specific tests rather than broad cognitive domains. Conclusion: PVH appeared to have a stronger relation to cognitive impairment and decline among older adults than DWMH, but the specific relationship to LLD is more Hogrefe Publishing

35

complicated and requires further study. There is evidence that PVH are associated with overall vascular health, which suggests that pro-vascular changes in lifestyle may reduce the development of PVH and mitigate their adverse outcomes.

Combined Effects of Aging and Cognitive Control on Brain Oscillations in a Task-Switching Protocol Prada, L. & Barcel, F. Clinical Neuropsychology Lab, University of Balearic Islands, Spain Objectives: Age-related cognitive deficits have been linked to a decline in frontally-mediated brain functions such as executive attention. This study explored the combined influence of Age An Cognitive control on the behavioural and neural indexes of a task-switching version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), adapted for measuring low brain oscillations (d: 2–4 Hz, h: 4–8 Hz) and alpha (a1: 8–10 Hz, a2: 10–12 Hz) event-related desynchronization (ERD). Methods: Two groups of middle-aged (49–60 y.o., N = 33) and older (61–80 y.o., N = 35) adults were split up according to their median Z-score in six neuropsychological measures of cognitive flexibility (Stroop, TMT-B, Digits, COWAT, and Brixton). All participants performed two versions of the WCST adaptation while their EEG was concurrently recorded. In a task alternation version, target cards had to be sorted either by their colour or shape, and tonal pre-cues instructed either to switch or repeat the rule (Barcel, 2003). A single-task condition with identical sensory and motor response demands was used to aid interpretation of behavioural and brain responses. Results: Time-frequency analyses for the task cueing period showed significant alpha modulations, with main effects for Age (p < 0.001), Task condition (p < 0.02) and Trial type (p < 0.02) suggesting comparatively lower a1 and a2 power for middle-aged adults, task-alternation, and switch trial conditions, respectively. A Task · Cognitive control interaction (p < 0.04) revealed a1 and a2 ERD mostly during task switch trials in the task alternation version for high cognitive control adults. A third-order interaction with ROI indicated that this larger ERD was frontally distributed. For d and h rhythms, an Age · Trial type interaction (p < 0.006) revealed larger d and h power in middle-aged compared to older adults during task switch trials. The interaction between Age and Cognitive control did not reach significance for cue-locked power changes. Target cardlocked power changes were also sensitive to age-related effects. Conclusions: The additive association found between Age and Cognitive control for alpha ERD of cognitive flexibility suggests a differential influence of these factors upon two successive processing stages in the cognitive control of task–switching: anticipatory ‘‘goal shifting’’ and ‘‘rule activation,’’ respectively (Rubinstein et al., 2001). Acknowledgements: Supported by Fundacin La Marat TV3 (112710) and MICINN grant PSI2010-17419. Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

36


APOE 4 is Associated With Memory Decline Also in Very Old Age: Longitudinal Findings From a Population-Based Sample Aged 80 and Older Praetorius, M., Thorvaldsson, V., Hassing, L. B., & Johansson, B. Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Method: The sample consisted of 482 non-demented individuals, aged 80 years and older at baseline, drawn from the OCTO-twin study. Ten cognitive tests were administered at five occasions with measurements intervals of 2 years. We fitted hierarchical linear models with specification of time as time to death while controlling for age, sex, education, stroke, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, and incident dementia. Results: The e4 allele was significantly associated with lower levels of performance or steeper rate of decline on all seven memory tests. There was a non-significant trend toward lower performance also on the other tests. The largest effect sizes were found on tests of delayed recall and recognition. The effect of the e4 allele was however substantially reduced on all tests after accounting for incidence status of dementia. Conclusions: The findings support the notion that the APOE e4 allele is associated with substantial memory decline also in very old age.

A Natural History of Elderly People in the North of England Rabbitt, P. Department of Psychology University of Oxford, UK Six thousand five hundred residents of Manchester and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, aged were recruited in 1983/ 1985 when they were between 41 and 93 years old. All deaths were logged, and survivors were followed continuously for 20 years until 2005. As part of this study volunteers updated, at roughly 5 year intervals, detailed accounts of their lifestyles, including amounts of physical exercise and social involvement, and hobbies, activities and occupations. These data provide a picture of how individuals’ life-patterns change as they grow older, and how changes in exercise, activities and social interactions are affected by, and affect incidence of pathologies, durations of survival and rates of cognitive change in old age.

Effects of Aging on Planning and Execution of Coordinated Eye and Hand Movements Rand, M. K.1 & Stelmach, G. E.2 1 Visuomotor Coordination Laboratory, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Dortmund, Germany Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

2

Department of Kinesiology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA Objectives: This study investigated how aging compromises the control of saccades and eye-hand coordination for hand movements with a two-segment sequence. We sought to determine which movement parameter(s) among two effectors (eye, hand) are most affected by aging, and whether they are influenced by imposing an accuracy constraint. Methods: Older adults and young controls performed twosegment movements with either the eye only (single task) or both the eye and hand (dual task). The participants sat in front of a table on which targets were displayed, and executed two distinct movements from a starting position to an first target, and then to a second target. The first target had two sizes to manipulate an accuracy constraint. Results: Both groups generally produced a similar eye-hand coordination pattern. Namely, an initial saccade to the first target was followed by a hand movement; the gaze was held on the first target until the hand movement was completed. Subsequently, another saccade to the second target was followed by another hand movement. The older adults did not delay the initiation of both eye and hand movements to the first target, but delayed the initiation to the second target. This suggests a limitation in older adults to update the motor plan during a sequence or to plan for multiple segments in advance. There were minimal age-related changes on the execution of primary saccade during the first segment. However, the older adults showed a scaling problem of saccade velocity under the dual task. They were also slow in stabilizing gaze fixation to the first target. Contrary to eye movements, the older adults substantially increased the deceleration phase of hand movements, during which online processing of sensory information on moving hand relative to the target was dominant. This increase was pronounced with a higher accuracy constraint. Conclusion: Age-related deficits are uneven across different effectors and parameters of various phases of movements. Thus, age-related deficits during the coordinative eye and hand movements are not attributed to a unitary factor, such as a slowing of global information processing speed. Instead, aging differentially affects various components of movements, which contributes to the slowness of overall performance. The slowness found in this study suggests age-related deficits in on-line processing of sensory information and/or a limited capacity of information processing to plan and organize sequential actions.

The Impact of a Sportive Dance Program on Cognitive Skills (Fluid Intelligence, General Intelligence and Working Memory) in Elderly Rehfeld, K.1, Hçkelmann, A.1, Lehmann, W.2, & Blaser, P.1 1 Institut fr Sportwissenschaft OvGU Magdeburg, Germany 2 HSU Hamburg, Germany Objectives: Aging goes along with physical and cognitive declines, which can be increased by physical inactivity Hogrefe Publishing


and could lead to cardiovascular diseases or dementia. But not all aging declines are genetically determined or irreversible (Voelcker-Rehage, Godde & Staudinger, 2006). Especially physical activity provides a protective impact on physical and cognitive skills (Colcombe & Kramer, 2003). An auspicious facility to be active and keep or increase elderly fitness (neurophysiologic-, physiologic-, psycho-social- and cognitive status) is dancing, because it combines motor (physical and coordinative abilities) and cognitive key aspects (Jacobson, 2005). Dancing activities require a special coordinative profile and a permanent learning process. Methods: 95 seniors, aged 60–75 years (M = 68, 58; SD = 4, 16) were included in a 16-month longitudinal study. The experimental subjects were randomized into three intervention- groups: 1.) Dance, 2.) Dance and Sport, 3.) Sport. The ‘‘dancing group’’ practiced once a week for 90 min different choreographies like Samba, Rock ‘‘n’’ Roll, Jazz Dance and Line Dance. The second group ‘‘Dance and Sport’’ received the identical dance-intervention. In addition they practiced strength and endurance training once a week. The third group ‘‘Sport’’ practiced only endurance and strength training once a week. For cognitive performance testing we used the ZVT (Number-Connecting-Test; Oswald & Roth, 1987) to measure the fluid intelligence, the LPS 50+ (Performance Testing System for 50–90 years old by Sturm, Willmes & Horn, 1993) to analyze the general intelligence (spatial orientation, word fluency, perception differentiating, spelling skills) and the BIS test (Berlin Intelligence Structure Test by Jger, Sß & Beauducel, 1997) to measure working memory performance (pre-test, mid-test after 8 month, posttest after 16 months). Results: The results show a significant increase from pre- to mid-test in all cognitive variables in all three groups. However, performance in the ‘‘sport group’’ stagnated from midtest to post-test, whilst performance in the other two groups continued to improve during the later training phase. Statistically, these results were confirmed by interaction-effects (group · time) for general intelligence (g2 = .141), fluid intelligence (g2 = .145) and working memory (g2 = .065). Conclusion: With our dance training program, it was possible to continuously increase cognitive performance of seniors over a period of 16 months. In a follow-up study currently performed in cooperation with the DZNE Magdeburg, we aim at adding to these data several parameters. This second experiment involves two intervention groups, a ‘‘dance’’ group and a ‘‘health sport’’ group. Magnetic resonance imaging (structural and functional MRI, DTI) is used for investigating neurophysiologic alterations in brain structure and function. Further tests include BDNF serum levels, the Cantab and other neuropsychology test batteries, spatial updating and tests to measure motor skills.

Healthy Aging Tips the Balance From Goal-Directed Action to S-R Habit Acquisition Ridderinkhof, R. Universiteit van Amsterdam, Programmagroep Ontwikkelingspsychologie, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Hogrefe Publishing

37

Instrumental learning is supported by dissociable goaldirected and habitual systems. Although the balance between these systems has not been investigated in healthy aging, previous research suggests that aging affects controlled, effortful, conscious processing, while there is less evidence for impaired skill learning based on stimulusresponse (S-R) mappings. In order to investigate directly the effect of healthy aging on the dual-system balance, we compared performance of young and older adults on an instrumental learning task in which devaluation of action outcomes affects goal-directed but not habitual action. Older adults display over-reliance on S-R habit learning at the expense of flexible, goal-directed action. These findings are novel but consistent with previous research and will be discussed in relation to changes in frontostriatal circuitry.

Age Dependent Characteristics in Steering Behavior: A Modeling Approach to Elucidate Individual Parameters of Central and Neuromuscular Processes Rinkenauer, G., Hofmann, P., & Puca, R. M. Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Dortmund, Germany Objectives: Older users are differing considerably in their cognitive and motor abilities. Thus, it seems to be reasonable adapting interaction systems to their individual skills. To assess central and neuromuscular characteristics of age dependent steering behaviour we employed an extended version of Plamondons kinematic model to analyse steering wheel movements. The model represents motor command parameters (i.e., temporal onsets and amplitudes) as well as neuromuscular timing parameters (system response times and delays) for the components of the observed steering wheel movements. The research question of our study was how drivers’ age and preparatory state may affect the central and neuromuscular parameters. Methods: Twenty-eight participants took part in a simulated driving task and were assigned to two equally sized age groups (23 vs. 65 y). Participants were instructed to perform lane change manoeuvres in response to an imperative stimulus. Advance information was provided by precues, which either conveyed full information or no information about the lane change direction. Averaged steering wheel angle velocity signals for each subject and condition where fitted to the kinematic model. Effects of the factors Age and Preparation on central and neuromuscular parameters were analysed. Results: Movement patterns of the older drivers showed the typical general slowing effect and were performed less forceful. There was no interaction effect of the factors Age and Preparation on reaction time. However, the two factors had specific effects on the central and neuromuscular parameters. Age affected the amplitude parameters of the motor commands and the neuromuscular response times. In contrast, Preparation affected the onset of the motor commands and the activation delays of the neuromuscular system. Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

38


Conclusion: Our study suggests that a kinematic model may be useful to identify steering wheel movement characteristics of young and old drivers. The model allows assessing central as well as neuromuscular parameters on the basis of pure behavioural data. Furthermore, it seems to be possible to find central and neuromuscular parameter combinations which allow inferring distinguishable effects of age and preparatory state on movement programming and execution processes. Such parameter combinations provide fingerprints which in turn may allow adapting interactive environments, likes steering systems, individually to the drivers’ cognitive and motor abilities.

When Words Are Losing Their Meaning – Aging Related Changes in Central Auditory Processing Ross, B. Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Canada Introduction: Hearing impairment is becoming increasingly more prevalent and problematic as populations enjoy longer longevity and lifespan. The resulting auditory communication deficits impact on cognitive function (Lindenberger, 1994; Idrizbegovic, 2011). Elevated hearing thresholds cannot fully explain age-related decline in perception, and changes in the central auditory system contribute to the problem. Our recent work led to the hypothesis that sensory information is represented with high fidelity at the cortical level in young and older adults (Ross, 2010). However, as one ages, it becomes more difficult to access the sensory information and to combine them into a meaningful perceptual object. We studied the contribution of changes in central auditory processing to communication deficits in aging. Auditory speech perception involves a hierarchy of processing steps from sensory registration to the understanding of complex sentences. One crucial step is the binding of elementary acoustical features (such as pitch, pitch transition, loudness, sound duration etc.) into an auditory object (e.g., a syllable). A current physiological model of feature binding for conscious perception proposes common neural oscillations at gamma band frequencies (around 40 Hz) as a the underlying mechanism (Keil, 1999). We developed an experimental paradigm for identifying gamma oscillations related to auditory binding using magnetoencephalography (MEG) (Ross, 2012) and compared those in young and older listeners. Methods: We recorded the MEG in 15 healthy young and older adults while there were listening to monaural presented amplitude modulated sounds. The sounds contained brief temporal gaps for testing temporal acuity. Informational masking (multi-talker babble noise) was presented to the contralateral ear for testing the central interaction of stimulus and masker as reflected in changes of oscillatory activity. Results: The amplitude modulated stimuli elicited forced 40-Hz oscillation in bilateral auditory cortices, which could be separated into a sensory response and oscillatory activity Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

related to sensory binding. Under the masking condition, response amplitudes were of similar size in both age groups and the brief stimulus gaps were preserved in the cortical response in both groups indicating only little changes in the cortical representation of sensory information. In contrast, the binding related 40-Hz response was significantly reduced in the older group. Conclusion: Normal aging limits the cortical resources for binding of elementary sensory features. Although sensory information are represented precisely at cortical level, it becomes increasingly difficult to access the meaning. This process may advance even more in cognitive impairment. We developed an neurophysiological indicator for reduced sensory binding, which could serve as a biomarker for cognitive impairment.

Age-Related Changes in Working Memory: Effects of Performance Level and Feedback Schapkin, S. A. & Freude, G. Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Berlin, Germany Objectives: The variability of working memory performance increases with age. This may be due to substantial differences within older people in terms of mismatch/match operations and the pattern of resource allocation for decision-making/updating information in WM (Daffner et al., 2011). Methods: Fifty-seven younger (29 € 3 years) and 49 older (55 € 3 years) adults had to perform a 0-back task, 2-back and 2-back task with feedback (FB) used to reduce WM load. According to d0 scores in the 2-back condition, participants were divided into high (d0 > 1) and low (d0 < 1) performers within age groups, hereby four groups of fourteen participants each were composed. Results: Older adults responded more slowly and less accurately than younger ones under 2-back and 2-back & FB conditions; FB presentation improved performance in both age groups. Low performers had longer reaction time and made more errors under 2-back than high performers; however, the former benefited from FB more than the later. The occipital N1, frontal P2, and response-locked CNV were larger while the parietal P3 (P3b) was smaller in older relative to younger adults. The N2 and P3b latencies were longer in older than younger adults. Low performers showed a smaller and delayed P3b, smaller Ne, and larger CNV than high performers. Moreover, a shorter latency of the feedback-related negativity (FRN) to correct responses and larger Pe to incorrect responses in high performing younger adults compared to other groups of participants were obtained. Conclusion: The permanent monitoring of the WM content and action outcomes (N2, Ne, Pe, FRN) are key characteristics of cognitively high performing individuals. At higher WM loads, older people have problems with allocation of cognitive resources to higher-order processes providing an efficient performance monitoring. Instead of this, older Hogrefe Publishing


people cope with WM load by activation of more elementary processes like stimulus encoding (N1), on-task concentration (P2), and motor preparation (CNV). Such an inefficient resource allocation leads to impairments of updating operations in WM (P3b) and contributes to performance decline. Individual Differences in Training and Transfer Effects Schmiedek, F.1,2, Prindle, J.1,2, Brandmaier, A.1, Lçvdn, M.1,3, Bellander, M.1,3, Brose, A.1, & Lindenberger, U.1 1 Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Center for Lifespan Psychology, Berlin, Germany 2 German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF) Frankfurt a. M., Center for Education and Human Development, Frankfurt a.M., Germany 3 Karolinska Institutet, Aging Research Center, Stockholm, Sweden Objectives: A number of cognitive training studies have demonstrated that intensive practice can lead to improvements in trained as well as in transfer tasks, but that effects are typically smaller for older than for younger adults. As little is known about the determinants of individual differences in training and transfer effects, the present work aims at exploring a comprehensive set of predictors. Methods: In the COGITO Study, 101 younger and 103 older adults practiced a battery of 12 tasks (working memory, episodic memory, and perceptual speed) over 100 training sessions. Pretest, posttest, and a 2-year follow-up included comprehensive measurements of transfer tasks, self-report measures (e.g., personality, well-being, interests, activities), objective and subjective health, genetic polymorphisms, and socio-economic background. Latent change score models demonstrated reliable training and transfer effects for several latent ability factors. Here, we use a powerful exploratory technique, that is, structural equation model trees (Brandmaier et al., in press), to explore predictors of individual differences in these training and transfer effects at the latent factor level. Results: Analyses show that there are reliable individual differences in the latent change scores of several of the training and transfer ability factors. First applications of the structural equation model trees demonstrate their applicability to investigating individual differences in training and transfer effects as well as their benefits when exploring a large array of potential predictor variables. Conclusion: Individual differences in training and transfer effects should be investigated at the latent factor level and using a comprehensive selection of potential predictor constructs to move towards a better understanding of the efficiency of cognitive training programs at the level of the individual.

Age Differences in Cognitive Control: ERP-Correlates of Context Updating in Younger and Older Adults Schmitt, H., Ferdinand, N. K., & Kray, J. Saarland University, Saarbrcken, Germany Hogrefe Publishing

39

Objectives: The ability to update and maintain context information is highly important for the flexible control of behavior in daily life. Age-related failures in context updating are linked to age differences in numerous cognitive control tasks and are associated with declines in prefrontal cortex and changes in dopamine release (Braver & Barch, 2002). The study aimed at examining neural correlates of age differences in context updating and to separate processes associated with early updating (measured with the P2) from task-reconfiguration (indexed by the P3b) and task-maintenance processes (reflected in the ContingentNegative-Variation, CNV) as obtained in a previous EEG study (Lenartowicz et al., 2010). Methods: An ERP approach on a modified AX-Continuous-Performance Task was applied in younger (mean age = 23.0 years) and older (mean age = 74.8 years) adults. In the task, responses to probe stimuli on contextdependent trials are dependent on the context provided by a preceding cue and subjects have to update the cue information to respond correctly, while responses on contextindependent trials can be given without any cue processing. Thus, context-dependent trials should elicit context-updating to a larger amount than -independent trials. Results: Age-related impairments in context updating were reflected in longer latencies and higher error rates on context-dependent than -independent trials for older than younger adults. Age differences in ERP data were apparent in the P3b: larger amplitudes were elicited for context-dependent than -independent trials in younger adults only. The CNV was larger for context-dependent than -independent trials but this effect did not vary with age. In contrast, the P2 showed no context effect or age differences therein. Conclusion: In line with models of cognitive control (Braver et al., 2002) we found an age-related decline associated with failures in context updating and task-reconfiguration processes as reflected in the P3b: During updating younger adults distinguished between trial types, whereas no difference between context-dependent and -independent trials was obtained for older adults. Context-dependent trials required task-maintenance (reflected in the CNV) to a larger amount than –independent trials and older adults displayed no maintenance deficit. In contrast to the previous EEG study, context effects were not found in the early frontal P2.

Successful Aging in the Workplace Schott, N. & Knorr, C. Department of Sport and Exercise Science; Division II Human Performance, University of Stuttgart, Germany Objectives: The concept of healthy, optimal or successful aging in the workplace has received increased attention due to the aging society and longer life expectancies. Multidimensional models of successful aging have become widely influential in gerontology, academic research and policy making. These models take into account cognitive, physical and social factors. Several studies have identified health-related life-style factors that contribute to the degree Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

40


of successful aging, including involvement in physical activity. We examined associations between successful aging in the workplace (adaptability and health, positive relationships, occupational growth) and three major factors of the Rowe & Kahn model (1997; freedom from disease and disability; high cognitive and physical functioning; social and productive engagement) among German older workers in Stuttgart. Methods: 40 men and 43 women aged 50 to 65 years of age completed the Successful Aging in the Workplace Scale (Robson et al., 2006), the Physical Activity Questionnaire 50+’’ (German-PAQ-50+), the Work Ability Index (WAI), the Senior Fitness Test (SFT; Rikli & Jones, 2001) and a Flanker test. Results: In men the WAI correlated significantly with strength & endurance (r = .39**), adaptability and health factor (r = .46**), positive relationships (r = .37**), occupational growth (r = .60**), executive position (r = .48**) and field vs. office duties (r = .30**). In women the WAI correlated significantly with flexibility (r = .56**), BMI (r = .49**), adaptability and health factor (r = .29*), positive relationships (r = .43**), occupational growth (r = .30*), and executive position (r = .38**). Hierarchical regression results showed that individual work ability of a male employee was significantly related to adaptability (b = .320) and occupational growth (b = .509), while in women the WAI was associated with flexibility (b = .422), BMI (b = .381), occupational growth (b = .327), and age (b = .238). Conclusion: Occupational growth and physical fitness were important correlates of successful aging in the workplace, but not cognitive performance and physical activity.

Examining Age-Related Effects in Visual Working Memory: Filtering Out Irrelevant Information on the Basis of Location Schwarzkopp, T. & Jost, K. RWTH Aachen University, Germany Objectives: It is commonly observed that the capacity of working memory (WM) varies across individuals and declines with age. Jost, Bryck, Vogel and Mayr (2011) showed that age and individual differences do have different origins. Whereas the ability to prevent irrelevant information from being stored is the factor behind the individual variation, this does not seem to be responsible for the agerelated effects. They found that older compared to younger adults do not have a general impairment in efficient filtering, but start to filter out irrelevant information later in time. This could be seen in different time courses of filtering in event-related potentials (ERPs), when target items were selected on the basis of color. In the present study, we used an easier selection criterion and examined whether a delay in filtering in older adults still exists. Methods: Younger and older adults performed a visual short-term-memory task (change-detection task) with filtering demand, that is, they had to filter out irrelevant information on the basis of location. ERPs were recorded Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

during the retention interval and served as an online measure of how much irrelevant information was actually stored in visual WM and additionally reflected the time course of filtering. Results: Preliminary data show differences in filtering between younger and older adults, but only early in the retention interval. This result indicates that there are age effects in form of a delay in efficient filtering in older adults. Conclusion: Thus, previous findings could be replicated even with an easier selection criterion. Altogether, these results suggest that the delay in filtering in older adults is a critical factor of age effects in visual WM, regardless of the difficulty in selecting targets among distracters.

Spectral Fingerprints of Large-Scale Neuronal Interactions Siegel, M. Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, Tbingen, Germany Cognition results from interactions among functionally specialized but widely distibuted brain regions. However, neuroscience has so far largely focused on characterizing the function of individual brain regions and neurons therein. In a series of recent human M/EEG experiments, we investigated large-scale inter-regional interactions by assessing correlations between neuronal oscillations in different brain regions. We found evidence that coherent oscillations between different brain regions mediate the attentional selection, perceptual disambiguation, and cross-modal integration of sensory inputs. Furthermore, we found that spontanous cortical oscillations exhibit charactersitic global correlation patterns that are specific for the underlying oscillation frequency. In summary, our data suggest that cognition is mediated by correlated oscillations within large-scale cortical networks. These oscillations may be ‘‘spectral fingerprints’’ of the underlying canonical cortical computations.

Age Effects on the Functional Connectivity of the Motor Network During the Resting State and Motor Control Abilities Solesio-Jofre, E., Serbruyns, L., Woolley, D., Beets, I., Mantini, D., & Swinnen, S. Motor Control Laboratory, Research Centre for Movement Control and Neuroplasticity, Department of Biomedical Kinesiology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Objectives: To investigate age effects on the functional connectivity of the motor network during the resting state (thereafter, resting state motor network, RSMT) and their relationship with motor abilities as assessed by several bimanual motor tasks. Methods: A sample of 128 healthy volunteers aged 18– 80 years. They underwent the following behavioural assessments: the bimanual visuomotor task (BVT), motor rotation task (MRT), choice reaction time test (CRTT), Hogrefe Publishing


and Purdue pegboard test (PPT). We explored age effects on bimanual motor performance by calculating the correlation strength between age and motor performance scores. The imaging protocol included a 7 min resting state scan. Standard fMRI preprocessing procedures were performed using SPM 8. Our regions of interest (ROIs) were selected from an independent task-based fMRI study and included the supplementary motor area (SMA), middle cingulate (MCC), superior frontal gyrus (SFG), precentral gyrus (preCG), primary motor cortex (M1), postcentral gyrus (postCG), superior parietal lobule (SPL), and inferior parietal lobule (IPL). We extracted the mean time series per ROI and subject. The correlation strength between every pair of ROIs was calculated using Pearson correlation coefficients. For subsequent analyses, all connections with correlations significant at the level of p < 0.05 were selected. Correlations between single-subject connectivity and age were selected. We then choose the connections showing significant correlations with age, and calculated correlations with the bimanual motor tasks. The probabilities associated with all tests were corrected for multiple comparisons. Results: Behaviourally, a significant decline of bimanual motor performance with advancing age was observed in bimanual coordination (BVT), finger manipulation (PPT) and motor rotation speed (MRT), response selection and movement preparation (CRTT). Neuroimaging results revealed increased functional connectivity with increasing age in the RSMT, particularly pairwise correlations that included the SMA, MCC, SFG, M1, preCG, IPL, and SPL. Furthermore, age-related increased functional connectivity was associated with a decline in bimanual motor performance in bimanual coordination, finger manipulation and motor rotation speed, response selection and movement preparation. Conclusion: Age-related increased functional connectivity within the RSMT was associated with decreased bimanual motor performance. These findings support the dedifferentiation hypothesis of aging, demonstrating that increased functional connectivity is not uniformly beneficial for aged adults.

Recruitment of the Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex in Emotional Control is Associated with Executive Functioning in Older Adults Taylor, A. N. W.1, Lloyd, W. K.1, Ellis, J. A.1, Hendrickx, H.2, & van Reekum, C. M.1 1 University of Reading, UK 2 Unilever Ltd, Colworth, UK Introduction: Age-related cognitive decline is relatively well understood, whilst the impact of this decline on emotional control is unclear. Adaptive responding to negative emotional events has implicated the lateral area of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a region also important to processes of executive functioning and working memory; functions that typically show age-related decline. The amygdala is also implicated in managing the impact of a negative stimulus, but this limbic structure is spared of age-related changes Hogrefe Publishing

41

in adaptive emotional control. We used functional MRI in an older adult population to test the hypothesis that increasing age is related to a decrease in the ability of managing emotion under cognitive load, demonstrated by relative decreased dorsal & lateral PFC regions and increased amygdala activation. Furthermore, we predicted that the ability to control emotion is associated with executive function, assessed using the Stroop task. Methods: Healthy older adults (N = 17, 57–84 years, 9 female) were recruited from the Older Adult Research Panel of the University of Reading. In an emotional N-back task, participants made a decision about the location (outdoor/indoor) of negative and neutral pictures from the International Affective Picture System under two working memory conditions (0-back & 2-back). A series of 30-slice transversal echo planar functional brain images were acquired on a 3-Tesla Siemens scanner. Functional data were analyzed using FSL software, in a 3-stage GLM mixed-effects analysis to investigate relationships between activation, age and cognitive performance. Results: Behavioural data revealed that the decreasing success in managing the impact of negative emotional stimuli under higher cognitive load was associated with increasing age, r = .535, p = .013 (1-tailed) and under lower cognitive load increasing success in managing the impact of negative stimuli was associated with better inhibition abilities, r = .581, p = .009 (1-tailed) . Analysis of the functional data demonstrated interaction effects of load and emotion in left dmPFC (BA 9) and left amygdala (z = 3.8, p < .005 & z = 2.92, p = .043). As predicted, the activation in left dmPFC was moderately associated with inhibition ability, r = .38, p = .09 (1-tailed), but not with age (r < .2). Age or inhibition ability were not correlated with amygdala activity (both r < .1). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the dmPFC is important in the control of emotion in older adults and is independent of increasing age. Importantly, the ability to inhibit irrelevant information, a component of executive function, was associated with emotional control, suggesting that not age per se, but cognitive control ability, underlies adaptive emotion regulation.

Aging, Directed Forgetting, and Working Memory Titz, C. DIPF, Center for Research on Human Development and Education, Frankfurt, Germany Objectives: The ability to deliberately suppress no longer relevant information is crucial for efficient cognition, since it helps to prevent an overload in information processing. This ability has been examined in directed forgetting studies. Age effects in directed forgetting have been attributed to problems older adults have in inhibiting the activation of to-be-forgotten information. Since working memory capacity has been argued to be related to the efficiency of inhibition, and older adults suffer from a reduced capacity of working memory, we examined whether working Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

42


memory capacity moderates the performance in a shortterm memory directed forgetting task. Methods: Forty-five younger adults (mean age 23.0; 2035 years) and 45 older adults (mean age 67.8; 6079 years) took part in a 1-h computer-based short-term memory directed forgetting experiment. The directed forgetting task was modeled upon a task by Andrs, van der Linden, and Parmentier (2004). To analyze directed forgetting, memory performance for a string of three consonants (letter trigrams) was compared between a ‘‘single trigram condition’’ in which only one trigram has to be remembered, and performance for the first trigram in a ‘‘directed forgetting condition’’ in which a second trigram was presented but afterwards cued to be forgotten. Working memory capacity was assessed with (1) a memory updating task in which people had to keep track of the 3 smallest out of 10 numbers and (2) with a digit span backwards task. Results: A 2 · 2 ANOVA on memory performance for the trigrams with the factors age group (young, old) and trial condition (single trigram, directed forgetting) revealed that the difference between the single trigram condition and the directed forgetting condition was larger for older adults – with lower scores in the directed forgetting condition F(1, 88) = 12.55, MSE = 20.47, p = .001, ¢p = 0.13. If, however, the digit span backwards and the memory updating task were added as covariates, the age-related interaction was diminished to a non-significant level F(1, 86) = 3.04, MSE = 19.96, p = .085, ¢p = 0.03. Conclusion: The results suggest that working memory capacity moderates age-related difficulties in deliberately suppressing information that is no longer relevant. Rehabilitating Older Ears and Older Brains Tremblay, K. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Objectives: To review the multiple stages of sound processing involved when considering the auditory rehabilitation needs of older adults. Methods: Here I review how audiometric, self-report, electrophysiological, and amplification measures are uncovering the communication needs of aging adults. The typical older person not only suffers from hearing loss, but also age-related changes affecting the neural detection and processing of sound. What is more, the use of amplification introduces additional challenges involving signal processing that the aging brain must deal with. Taken together, there are a number of stages of sound processing that affects an older person’s ability to detect and understand speech communication. Results: Decreased audibility and impaired temporal processing are only some of the changes that take place in the aging auditory system. This means that improving sound audibility through the use of hearing aids may not resolve some of the rehabilitation needs of older adults. The contribution of cognition when resolving these challenges is still poorly understood. Conclusion: The rehabilitation of people who complain of hearing loss involves sensory and cognitive aspects. While Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

much is known about the sensory needs of older adult, less is known about the contribution of cognition to rehabilitation. A Brain Potential Analysis of Lifespan Changes in Response Activation and Inhibition van de Laar, M. C.1, van den Wildenberg, W. P. M.1, van Boxtel, G. J. M.2, Huizenga, H. M.1, & van der Molen, M. W.1 1 Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2 Department of Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands Response speed improves from childhood to early adulthood and declines steadily with advancing age. The present eventrelated brain potential (ERP) study explored the contribution of the primary motor cortex (M1) to lifespan changes in response speed and accuracy using a choice reaction time (RT) task. Two groups of children (8 and 12 years) and two groups of adults (21 and 76 years) responded to leftor right-pointing arrows. RTs showed a typical U-shaped lifespan pattern. RT was segmented into pre-selection time, pre-motor time, and motor time by using the onset of the central motor command (i.e., LRP, and the negative Laplacian potential) and the onset of response-related EMG. Premotor time was most sensitive to age-related change. In addition, the positive Laplacian potential, assumed to be associated with inhibition of the incorrect response alternative, was absent in children. In adults, the onset of the ipsilateral positivity started before the onset of the contralateral negativity but in elderly the onsets occurred approximately at the same time. This pattern of findings is consistent with the observed differences in choice error rates between age groups. Taken together, the lifespan changes in motor potentials point to suboptimal motor response control in children and the elderly compared to young adults. The Vitamin B12 Biomarkers Homocysteine and Methylmalonic Acid Are Associated With Cognitive Performance in a Dutch Elderly Population van Wijngaarden, J. P.1, van der Zwaluw, N. L.1, Dhonukshe-Rutten, R. A. M.1, Brouwer-Brolsma, E. M.1, Vaes, A.1, de Heus, R.1, Swart, K. M. A.2, Enneman, A. W.3, van Dijk, S. C.3, van Schoor, N. M.2, van der Velde, N.3, Uitterlinden, A. G.3, Lips, P.2, Kessels, R. P. C.4, & de Groot, C. P. G. M.1 1

Division Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands 2 EMGO Institute, VU Medisch Centrum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 3 Division Internal Medicine, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands 4 Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Objectives: Impaired vitamin B12 status has been reported as a possible risk factor for cognitive decline in elderly. Our Hogrefe Publishing


aim was to evaluate the cross-sectional associations of various markers of vitamin B12 status, including levels of homocysteine, holo-transcobalamin (HoloTC), methylmalonic acid (MMA), serum vitamin B12 and a combination score of these four biomarkers, with cognitive performance in Dutch elderly. Methods: Data were used from 2919 participants of the BPROOF study. The B-PROOF study is a randomized placebo controlled intervention study, investigating the effect of vitamin B12 and folic acid supplementation on fracture risk in elderly people. Participants had a mean (SD) age of 74.1y (6.6), 49% are women, and homocysteine levels range between 12 lmol/L and 50 lmol/l with a median of 14.4 lmol/L. Cognitive performance was assessed with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and an extensive neuropsychological test battery, representing four cognitive domains: attention and working memory, information processing speed, executive function and episodic memory. Episodic memory was assessed in the total population, the other three domains in a subsample (n = 856). Multivariate linear regression analysis was performed to examine the associations of levels of vitamin B12 markers (Hcy, holoTC, MMA, vitamin B12) with the cognitive domains; regression models are adjusted for age, sex, education, smoking, depression and creatinine levels. Results: Homocysteine level was inversely associated with the cognitive domains information processing speed (b = 0.015, p = 0.04) and episodic memory (b = 0.009, p = 0.01). MMA was inversely associated with the domain episodic memory (b = 0.16, p = 0.004). A combination score of the four biomarkers was associated with the domains information processing speed (b = 0.103, p = 0.03) and episodic memory (b = 0.048, p = 0.04). HoloTC and serum vitamin B12 levels were not associated with cognitive performance. Conclusion: We observed a modest association of most vitamin B12 markers with cognitive performance within the cognitive domains information processing speed and episodic memory. Our next step is to determine the effect of two-year supplementation with vitamin B12 and folic acid on cognitive performance within the B-PROOF study population.

The Aging Model Human Processor: A Meta-Analysis of Age-Related Speed Differences in Fifteen Elementary Tasks Verhaeghen, P. Georgia Institute of Technology, USA Objectives: In a series of meta-analyses, I estimated age differences [raw RT and Brinley functions] in speed of perceptual processes (viz., fixation duration, the decay time of the visual sensory store, the cycle time of the visual perceptual processor as measured by flicker fusion thresholds, the cycle time of the auditory perceptual processor as measured by auditory gap detection), motor processes (the cycle time of the motor processor as measured by tapping speed, movement time towards a target [Fitts’s law]), and Hogrefe Publishing

43

cognitive processes (cycle times for short-term memory scanning, the enumeration process of subitizing and counting, mental rotation, and visual search [feature and conjunction search]; simple and choice reaction time; P300; decay time of the verbal short-term store; and lexical decision). Methods: Multilevel Brinley analysis. Results and Conclusion: A general slowing model fit the data very well, but was clearly falsified (15 dimensions fit the data reliably better than a single dimension, R2 = 98.49% vs. 95.97%). Two models with a reduced number of dimensions fared just about equally well: (a) a 4-dimensional spatial configuration model (Dimension 1: low-level sensory tasks; Dimension 2: rhythm production and reaction time; Dimension 3: processes operating on lexical stimuli; Dimension 4: visuospatial processing (R2 = 97.54%); (b) a 5-dimensional anatomical model derived from a factor analysis of brain regions associated with the 15 tasks (R2 = 97.64%). Three generalizatiosn emerged from all feasible model.: First, spatial tasks yield larger age-related effects than linguistic tasks and, more generally, tasks involving manipulations of lexical items (such as memory search). Second, within spatial tasks, lower-level or ‘‘early’’ tasks, likely involving occipital structures (such as flicker fusion threshold and feature visual search), generally yield smaller age-related effects than more integrative, ‘‘later’’ spatial tasks, likely driven more by parietal structures (such as subitizing, conjunction visual search, and mental rotation). Third, sensorimotor tasks yield small or no age-related effects but only when no decision component is involved; when a decision component is involved, a more moderate age-related slowing factor is observed (flicker fusion threshold and tapping rate vs. movement time, simple RT, and choice RT).

Differential Effects of Endurance and Coordination Training on Cortical and Subcortical Brain Structures Voelcker-Rehage, C.1,2, Niemann, C.1, Staudinger, U. M., & Godde, B.1,2 1

Jacobs Center on Lifelong Learning and Institutional Development, Germany 2 AgeAct Research Center, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany Objectives: Aging is related to cognitive performance loss and brain volume shrinkage. For older adults, cardiovascular fitness and training have been positively related to brain volume in several brain regions and to higher cognitive functioning. Less is known about activity related brain volume changes in subcortical structures (e.g., basal ganglia, hippocampus). Moreover, motor fitness and coordination training have also been associated with better cognitive performance and different brain activation patterns. Structural brain data are, however, missing (cf. Voelcker-Rehage & Niemann, in press). Methods: We analyzed data from healthy older adults between 62 and 79 years of age out of the Old Age on the Move project (e.g., Voelcker-Rehage et al., 2011). Different cognitive dimensions, e.g., executive control Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

44


(Flanker task), were assessed. Brain volume of subcortical structures (basal ganglia, hippocampus) as well as prefrontal white matter was measured by manual morphometry (all ICC(2) > .90). Next, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) will be conducted to further illuminate whether different types of physical activity also affect cortical gray matter. Results: We found diverging effects for physical and motor fitness (cross-sectional study) on the volume of the basal ganglia and the hippocampus demonstrating positive associations only for motor fitness. Further, the relationship between motor fitness and performance in the Flanker task was moderated by basal ganglia volume. Also after 12 month coordination training basal ganglia volume was increased. Hippocampal volume, on the contrary, increased after both, cardiovascular and coordination training. Prefrontal white matter volume was positively associated only with cardiovascular but not with coordination training. In VBM analysis, we expect to find motor fitness/coordination training and cardiovascular fitness/training to be differently associated with volume of parietal and frontal regions. Conclusion: Cortical and subcortical structures are differently affected by different types of physical activity indicating a high specificity of training effects. Associations with measurements of cognitive performance are less clear-cut and need to be further investigated.

Does Training of Working Memory Improve Intelligence? von Bastian, C. & Oberauer, K. Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland Objectives: The question whether cognitive abilities such as fluid intelligence can be improved through computer-based working memory training is still highly controversial, with prior studies providing contradictory findings. Two largescale training studies based on the facet model of the structure of working memory (Oberauer et al., 2002, Intelligence) were conducted to examine training and transfer effects of working memory training. Methods: Before and after 4 weeks of adaptive computerized training, transfer was measured with a broad test battery. The first study additionally included a follow-up assessment 6 months after training. In Study 1, each of three groups practiced one of the three facets of working memory (i.e., storage-processing, relational integration, or supervision). They were compared to an active control group training visual matching tasks. The 121 young adults were randomly assigned to one of these four groups. In the second study, young (n = 66) and old adults (n = 57) were randomly assigned to a training group or an active control group. The training group received a combined training of all three facets of working memory. Both studies were conducted double-blinded. Results: In Study 1, training storage-processing and supervision yielded transfer effects to non-practiced tasks measuring the construct trained. Both storage-processing training and, to a lesser extent, supervision training Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

generalized to tasks measuring fluid intelligence. In Study 2, both age groups showed increased performance in the trained tasks and in one structurally similar, but novel task. However, in contradiction to the hypothesis that training all three facets at once could lead to even broader transfer than in Study 1, there was no transfer to fluid intelligence in neither age group. Conclusion: We conclude that training focusing on the working-memory facet storage-processing holds the most promise for transfer to fluid intelligence.

Rapid Mental Fatigue Amplifies Age-Related Attentional Deficits Wascher, E. & Getzmann, S. Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Dortmund, Germany Objectives: Ageing is accompanied by the decline of cognitive abilities due to an impairment of frontal lobe functions (executive control). The same structures that are affected by age also change in efficiency when subjects get fatigued. Accordingly, comparable effects of increasing age and increasing fatigue has been demonstrated in some cognitive tasks. Here, the interaction of age and fatigue was tested, using the inhibition of return paradigm (IOR = the problem to reallocate attention towards a location where previously not task relevant information was attended). Assuming that executive control is limited in capacities, effects of ageing and mental fatigue should add on each other. Methods: 12 older (mean age 63 y) and 12 younger adults (mean age 24y) performed an IOR task in which simple responses had to be made upon the appearance of a yellow cross presented left or right of fixation. This target stimulus was preceded by a cue either at the same location (cued) or at the opposite location (uncued). The interval between cue and target varied between 50 and 1240 ms. Participants performed 4 blocks of the task (16 min each). EEG was recorded from 60 electrodes. Event-related potentials evoked by the cue were calculated. Time frequency analyses were run based on these averages. Results: Overall, older adults showed slower response times and delayed IOR. The delay of IOR in older adults shifted even further with time on task. Beside an overall reduction of fronto-central evoked theta with higher age, this measure further decreased with time on task in the older group. Conclusion: Even though the experiment was rather short in its overall duration, older adults already showed marked signs of mental fatigue. The age-related delay in IOR amplified with any block they performed. Across the entire experiment they lacked frontal theta activity. While this suggests an overall reduction of attentional resources in the older group, the decrease of evoked theta activity with time on task indicated a rapid exhaustion of resources. The data support the idea that cognitive performance depends on the availability of resources of executive control functions. Any adverse influence on these mechanisms (i.e., Hogrefe Publishing


age or mental fatigue) adds on the other and therefore additionally impairs performance.

Memory Development Across the Lifespan as the Interplay of Low-level Binding and Strategic Control Components Werkle-Bergner, M., Sander, M., & Lindenberger, U. Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany Objectives: We suggest that working memory (WM) performance can be conceptualized as the interplay of lowlevel feature binding processes and top-down control, relating to posterior and frontal brain regions and their interaction in a distributed neural network. We propose that due to age-differential trajectories of posterior and frontal brain regions top-down control processes are not fully mature until young adulthood and show marked decline with advancing age, whereas binding processes are relatively mature in children, but show senescent decline in older adults. Methods: In the present talk, we illustrate commonalities and dissimilarities between children, younger adults, and older adults reflecting the change in the two components’ relative contribution to memory performance across the lifespan using results from our own lab. Results: This framework resembles and extents earlier conceptualizations of age-differences in episodic memory (EM) performance as the result of lifespan changes in associative and strategic processing components. Conclusion: We conclude that an integrated account of lifespan changes in EM and WM combining research from behavioral neuroscience and cognitive psychology of child development as well as aging research opens avenues to advance our understanding of cognition in general.

Effects of Omega-3 Supplementation on Brain Structure and Function in Healthy Elderly Subjects Veronica Witte, A.1, Kerti, L.1, Hermannstdter, H. M.1, Fiebach, J. B.1, Schuchardt, J. P.2, Hahn, A.2, and Flçel, A.1 1 Department of Neurology, NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence, and Center for Stroke Research Berlin, Charit – Universittsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany 2 Institute of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Leibniz University of Hannover, Germany Objectives: Higher intake of seafish or oil rich in longchain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-n3-FA) may be beneficial for the aging brain. We tested in a prospective interventional design whether high levels of supplementary LC-n3-FA would improve cognition, and addressed potential mechanisms underlying the effects. Methods: Sixty-five healthy subjects (50–75 years, 30 females) successfully completed 26 weeks of either fishoil (2 g/d LC-n3-FA) or placebo intake. Before and after the intervention period, cognitive performance was measured Hogrefe Publishing

45

under standardized conditions. Also, vascular markers and blood parameters were assessed, and subjects underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. Results: We found a significant increase in executive functions after LC-n3-FA compared to placebo (p = 0.023). In parallel, LC-n3-FA exerted beneficial effects on white matter microstructural integrity and gray matter volume in frontal, temporal, parietal and limbic areas primarily of the left hemisphere, and on carotid intima media thickness and diastolic blood pressure. Improvements in executive functions correlated positively with changes in omega-3index and peripheral brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and negatively with changes in peripheral fasting insulin. Conclusion: This study provides first-time evidence that LC-n3-FA lead to a parallel improvement of cognitive functions, brain structure, and vascular markers in older humans. Underlying mechanisms may include positive effects of LC-n3-FA on synaptic plasticity, myelination and axonal transmission, anti-atherogenic and anti-inflammatory effects, as well as upregulation of BDNF and improved insulin sensitivity. Our findings suggest novel strategies to maintain cognitive functions into old age.

Spatial Navigation – A Unique Window Into Mechanisms of Cognitive Ageing Wolbers, T. German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Magdeburg, Germany While cognitive functions such as memory, processing speed and small – scale spatial abilities (e.g., mental rotation) are known to decline across the lifespan, one ability that is particularly relevant to everyday functioning, mobility, and social participation, has received very little attention: navigation. In surveys, elderly people often report substantial declines in navigational abilities, for example, problems with finding one’s way in a novel environment. At present, however, the precise nature of such impairments – and the underlying neuronal mechanisms – are poorly understood. In this talk, I will outline recent studies from our laboratory that have begun to elucidate the mechanisms behind age – related changes in navigational processing. Using novel behavioural paradigms involving real and virtual environments, we performed cross – sectional experiments with groups of healthy young (18–33) and older (65–80) adults. Importantly, these paradigms allow for isolating specific navigational computations such as path integration, perspective taking and multisensory integration. Using model-based analyses, we identified key navigational processes that were substantially impaired in older participants. Specifically, self-position computations in entorhinal cortex and the ability to switch between different spatial perspectives were particularly sensitive to the deleterious consequences of ageing, which resulted in a bias towards striatum dependent navigational strategies. These results can explain a variety of navigational impairments (i.e., Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

46


cognitive mapping deficits) observed in previous studies, and they offer novel insights into general mechanisms of brain ageing that could affect processes beyond the spatial domain. Of equal importance are findings that functions such as multisensory integration and striatum dependent navigational learning were unaffected by ageing. Such processes can be useful for developing interventional strategies, for example by providing navigational cues via sensory modalities rarely used for everyday navigation.

Synchronization of Brain Oscillations and Aging Yordanova, J. & Kolev, V. Institute of Neurobiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria Objectives: It has been demonstrated that error negativity (Ne) results from the synchronization of neuroelectric oscillations from the delta and theta frequency bands that are generated over fronto-central midline cortical regions. The reduction of Ne with advancing age in humans is found to be associated with a decrease of the total power of both the delta and theta time-frequency (TF) components. However, the major source of Ne reduction is the substantial decrease in the synchronization of theta oscillations. Importantly, not only the oscillatory activity generated after the response at the mid-fronto-central location, but also theta oscillations during error response at motor cortical regions contra- and ipsi-lateral to the responding hand have been found to be smaller in old adults. Alterations in oscillatory theta neural networks may account for age-related differences in error processing. Here, correct responses to stimuli with different level of complexity of the stimulus-response association were analyzed to test if the impaired synchronization of theta networks in old adults is specific for error processing, or it may reflect an age-related deficit in the response-monitoring brain systems in general. Methods: Response-related potentials (RRPs) were recorded from young and older adults while they performed a simple reaction task, a Go-Nogo task and a four-choice reaction task in two modalities, auditory and visual. Trials from correct responses were analyzed separately for each modality at FCz, contra-lateral and ipsi-lateral motor cortical regions. RRPs were analyzed in the time domain and in the TF domain by means of wavelet decomposition. Two TF components of RRPs from the delta (1.5–3.5 Hz) and theta (3.5–7 Hz) frequency ranges were assessed. The measured parameters were total power and phase-locking factor reflecting the strength of phase-synchronization with response, independently of magnitude. Results: In contrast to young adults, the motor cortical potentials of old adults strongly depended on motor task complexity, with this dependence being modulated by both the efficient activation of the contra-lateral motor cortex indexed by lateralized delta power, and inter-hemispheric differences in the synchronization of distributed theta networks during response production.


Conclusion: Alterations in the organization, response- and inter-hemispheric synchronizing properties of oscillatory theta networks play a role for aging-related differences in response execution and monitoring.

The Effects of Aging on White Matter and Cognitive Rhythms Ziegler, D. A.1, Corkin, S.2, & Gazzaley, A.1 1 Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Departments of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Physiology, UCSF, San Francisco, CA, USA 2 Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA Objectives: Healthy aging is characterized by functional declines across multiple cognitive domains, including attention, memory, and most strikingly, cognitive control. In recent years, it has become widely accepted that neural rhythms are important mediators of cognition, but we are just beginning to learn how these oscillatory mechanisms are affected by healthy and pathological aging. Although behavioral studies have documented age-related decreases in attentional control, we do not know how healthy aging affects oscillatory activity associated with top-down processes. Methods: In this talk, we will present converging evidence from a series of multimodal neuroimaging studies that employed structural and functional MRI, magnetoencephalography (MEG), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and simultaneous EEG/fMRI to assess the structural and functional integrity of cognitive control networks in healthy young and older adults. During each neuroimaging session, participants performed an attention-demanding task: either a visual search paradigm or a visual target detection/discrimination task. We focused our analyses of MEG and EEG data on oscillatory activity in the alpha (8–12 Hz), theta (4–7 Hz), beta (15–30 Hz), and gamma (40–60 Hz) ranges. Results: This series of experiments revealed that that altered oscillatory dynamics underlie diminished top-down control in older adults and that these effects are associated with changes in frontoparietal white matter tracts. These results suggest that older adults do not engage beta- and theta-mediated top-down oscillatory mechanisms to the same extent as young adults. Instead, older adults appear to rely more on gamma-mediated bottom-up processes. fMRI evidence suggests that these spectral changes are associated with decreased engagement of prefrontal regions in older adults, as compared to young adults, leading to increased fluctuations of attention. Conclusion: These findings extend our understanding how healthy aging affects the integrity of neural circuits that support cognitive control processes. Our results point to a specific decrease in the structural and functional integrity of frontoparietal top-down attention networks in older adults, accompanied by an increased reliance on

Hogrefe Publishing


bottom-up processing. The results reported here enhance our understanding of how healthy aging affects cognitive control systems and provide new insight into the normal function of top-down and bottom-up attentional processes.

Disrupting the Ipsilateral Motor Cortex Interferes With Training of a Complex Motor Task in Older Adults Zimerman, M.1, Heise, K.-F.1, Gerloff, C.1, Cohen, L. G.2, & Hummel, F. C.1 1 Brain Imaging and Neurostimulation (BINS) Labor, Universittsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany 2 Human Cortical Physiology and Stroke Neurorehabilitation Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA Objectives: Functional neuroimaging studies started to investigate the underlying cortical changes across lifespan using a variety of motor tasks of varying complexity. In general, older adults exhibit enhanced bilateral sensorimotor activation during the execution of unimanual motor activities compared to young subjects, even when behavioural performance was matched. However, the causal functional role of the ipsilateral motor cortex (iMC) for motor control is still not completely known. In the present study, we tested the behavioural consequences of interference of the iMC during training of a complex motor skill. Methods: Healthy old (58–85 years) and young volunteers (22–35 years) were tested in a double-blind, cross-over, sham-controlled design. Participants attended two different study arms with either cathodal (inhibitory) transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) or sham concurrent with training. Motor performance was evaluated before, during, 90 min, and 24 h after the training phase. Results: During training, a reduced slope of performance with cathodal tDCS relative to sham was observed in old compared with young (F = 5.8, P = 0.02), with a decrease of correctly rehearsed sequences, an effect that was evident even after two consecutive re-training periods without intervention (T = 2.3 P = 0.03). Furthermore, the older the subject, the more prominent was the disruptive effect of cathodal tDCS (R2 = 0.50, P = 0.01). Conclusions: Taken together, these data provide direct evidence for a causal functional link between the iMC and motor skill acquisition in old subjects pointing toward the concept that the recruitment of iMC in old is an adaptive process in response to age-related declines in motor functions.

Cognitive and Neural Effects Induced by an ObjectLocation Memory Training in Old Age Zimmermann, K., Eschen, A., Jncke, L., & Martin, M. University of Zurich, International Normal Aging and Plasticity Imaging Center (INAPIC), Switzerland Hogrefe Publishing

47

Objectives: Recent cognitive training research has demonstrated that process-based trainings that engage participants individually in extended adaptive practice of computerized tasks are very effective in enhancing cognitive function in old age. In particular, they have demonstrated larger improvements in trained processes and a greater transfer to nontrained abilities than strategy-based group trainings. However, process-based trainings have mainly targeted executive functions and the relationship between traininginduced cognitive and neural effects stays ambiguous (Eschen, 2012). This study intends to contribute to a deeper understanding of cognitive and neural effects of a process-based object-location memory training in old age and the relationships between their temporal trajectories. As a subtype of spatial episodic memory, object-location memory is of high functional relevance for daily life. It is needed for finding objects such as keys in personal surroundings as well as in largescale environments, especially when they shift positions. Compared to memorizing objects or positions solely, available data suggest that decrements associated with age are strongest for object-location memory, probably because it requires binding the object’s identity as well as its location. Methods: This study is conducted as randomized controlled double-blind trial with a 2-group design, consisting of three waves with a total of 60 healthy old adults (60–75 years) included at baseline. Whereas the training group engages in three tasks of object-location memory per training session, the active control group takes part in three tasks of a visual perception training using the same stimuli. The trainings include 30 training sessions and are selfadministered by the participants at their homes on computers. Four measurement points for efficacy outcomes are intended: before, after 15 training sessions, immediately following, and 4 months after the trainings. Cognitive outcome measures include three spatial and three verbal episodic memory tasks, three visual perception tasks as well as five reasoning tasks. Neural outcome measures consist of structural (MRI, DTI) and functional imaging (fMRI). Results: So far, the first wave of participants completed the trainings as well as three out of four outcome assessments. Their training data and the data of the cognitive outcome measures will be presented and discussed.

Individual Differences in Forgetting in Old Age Zimprich, D. University of Ulm, Institute for Psychology and Pedagogy, Ulm, Germany The goal of the present study was to examine whether individual differences in basic cognitive abilities, processing speed, and working memory, are reliable predictors of individual differences in forgetting rates in old age. The sample for the present study comprised 364 participants aged between 65 and 80 years from the Zurich Longitudinal Study on Cognitive Aging. The impact of basic cognitive abilities on forgetting was analyzed by modeling working memory and processing speed as predictors of the amount Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

48


of forgetting of 27 words, which had been learned across five trials. Forgetting was measured over a 30-min interval by using parceling and a latent change model, in which the latent difference between recall performance after five learning trials and a delayed recall was modeled. Results implied reliable individual differences in forgetting. These individual differences in forgetting were strongly related to processing speed and working memory. Moreover, an age-related effect, which was significantly stronger for forgetting than for learning, emerged even after controlling effects of processing speed and working memory.

Poster Presentations The Neural Correlates of Recollection and Familiarity During Aging Angel, L.1,2, Bastin, C.1, Genon, S.1, Salmon, E.1, & Collette, F.1,3 1 Cyclotron Research Centre, University of Lige, Lige, Belgium 2 University FranÅois-Rabelais of Tours, UMR CNRS 7295 CeRCA, Tours, France 3 Department of Psychology: Cognition and Behavior, University of Lige, Lige, Belgium The present experiment aimed to investigate age differences in the neural correlates of familiarity and recollection, when performance is kept similar across age groups by varying task difficulty. Twenty young and twenty older adults performed an episodic memory task in an eventrelated fMRI design. At encoding, participants were presented with pictures, either once or twice. Then, they performed a recognition task, with a Remember/Know paradigm. A similar performance was observed for the two groups in the Easy condition for recollection and in the Hard condition for familiarity. Imaging data revealed the classical recollection-related network and familiarityrelated network, common to young and older groups. In addition, we observed that activity related to recollection (left frontal, left temporal, left parietal cortices and left parahippocampus) and familiarity (bilateral anterior cingulate, right frontal gyrus and left superior temporal gyrus) was reduced in older compared to young adults. However, for recollection processes only, older adults additionally recruit the right precuneus, possibly to successfully compensate for their difficulties.

Inhibitory Control in Older Adults’ Episodic Memory Aslan, A. & Buml, K.-H. T. University of Regensburg, Germany Objectives: To examine inhibitory control in older adults’ episodic memory. One leading account to explain cognitive decline in old age is the inhibition-deficit hypothesis (Hasher & Zacks, 1988). According to this hypothesis, Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

older adults experience increasing difficulty in down-regulating the activation of task-irrelevant information, leaving fewer resources for the processing of task-relevant information and inducing cognitive decline. Intriguingly, although the inhibition-deficit hypothesis has received considerable support in several cognitive areas, research in episodic memory has revealed conflicting results. Methods: We evaluated the inhibition-deficit hypothesis using two tasks that have been suggested to be particularly suited to examine inhibitory control processes in episodic memory: Retrieval-induced forgetting [RIF], which reflects inhibitory control of interfering memories during selective retrieval, and directed forgetting [DF], which reflects the (inhibitory) ability to intentionally forget ‘‘unwanted’’ memories when cued to do so. In both experiments, the samples consisted of ‘‘young-old’’ adults (60–75 years), and ‘‘old-old’’ adults (above 75 years), Results: We replicated previous work by finding efficient RIF and efficient DF in young-old adults. Going beyond the previous work, we additionally found both forms of forgetting to decline gradually with individuals’ age and to be inefficient in old-old adults. Conclusion: The present findings indicate that RIF and DF are ‘‘late-declining’’ capabilities, supporting the proposal of an inhibitory control deficit in (very) old age.

Possible Effects of a Simulated Altitude Training Program on Cognitive Performance Becke, A.1,2 & Mller, N. G.1,2 1 Dept. of Neurol., Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg, Germany 2 German Ctr. for Neurodegenerative Dis., Magdeburg, Germany Objectives: This pilot study examined possible effects of simulated high altitude training on cognitive functions and physical effects, with respect to investigate possible interventions for older adults with mobility and cognitive impairment. Methods: Participants (N = 26) aged between 24 and 38 were randomly assigned to receive 12 sessions of intermittent hypoxia for up to 2 weeks (hypoxia group) or no treatment (control group). In each training session subjects inhaled hypoxic air (simulated altitude of 4000–5000 m) intermittend for 10 min, with normoxic brakes of 3 min. Oxygen saturation was measured online by finger mounted pulse oximeter, heart rate and blood pressure were recorded in each hypoxia interval. On the first day of intervention and 1 week after the last training session blood was tested for levels brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Cognitive performance on verbal learning was tested with California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) as well as attention, reaction time, visual working memory and executive function was tested with the computer-based Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). A two-back match to sample task was used to test the hippocampus specific ability for pattern separation. Hogrefe Publishing


Results: After 2 weeks of intermittent hypoxia training heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and the rating of perceived exertion during the training were diminished (all p < .05). A significant decrease of whole-blood BDNF level was found in 11 subjects of hypoxia group (p < .01). Hypoxic training produced clear training effects on pattern separation, delayed match to sample performance and verbal learning performance. However our data failed to reach significance. Due to ceiling effects no improvement was not seen in other cognitive tests of the Cantab. Conclusion: A simulated high altitude training effects blood BDNF level and can also improve cognitive performance. A decrease in BDNF was not expected. How this comes along with an improvement in cognitive performance needs to be discussed. Further investigations needs to be done on the effect of simulated high altitude training on cognitive performance taken into account that more precise assessments need to be used for younger adults.

Neural Activation Changes During Acquisition of a Bimanual Tracking Task Under Augmented and Nonaugmented Feedback Conditions in Elderly Beets, I. A. M.1, Coxon, J.2, Gooijers, J.1, & Swinnen, S. P.1,3 1 Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Group, KU Leuven, Belgium 2 Department of Sport and Exercise Science, The University of Auckland, New Zealand 3 Leuven Research Institute for Neuroscience & Disease (LIND), Belgium Objectives: Everyday functioning in elderly is often compromised due to diminished bimanual coordination. The goal was to examine to what extent elderly can regain bimanual coordination skills by training and the underlying neural changes in activity. Method: Young and Elderly (N = 25 each) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging before (PRE) and after (POST) training. There were 5 training sessions in which a set of bimanual skills was practiced for 5 days with (FB) and without (NFB) augmented feedback. A target, presented on a visual display, was tracked by rotating two dials (left and right hand) simultaneously either inwards, outwards, both clockwise, or both counterclockwise, at one of 5 relative frequency ratios. In FB trials, a cursor showed the current position relative to the target point. Each trial was decomposed into a first phase in which subjects planned the movement (PLAN), based on the presented target direction on the screen, and a second phase in which they executed the movement (PERFORM). Results: Behavioral results revealed a greater error reduction in Elderly than in Young adults over training. Elderly reached the level of PRE performance of Young after training in both FB and NFB. In Elderly, neural changes as a function of training were only found for PERFORM FB. This was driven by a significant PRE > POST effect, located in bilateral sensorimotor areas, right PPC, bilateral Hogrefe Publishing

49

cerebellum, right DLPFC and bilateral occipital-temporal areas. An Age * Time interaction was present for both PLAN and PERFORM NFB trials, whereby the PRE> POST effect was greater for Young than for Elderly. For PLAN NFB, this effect was located in left primary visual areas, right IPS, right SMG, and left posterior cingulate; for PERFORM NFB, this effect was apparent in left LOC, left V3v and left V5. Conclusion: Elderly can acquire new bimanual coordination patterns. Elderly showed no PRE-to-POST neural changes regarding PLAN, suggesting that they did not optimize movement planning. Movement execution in the presence of FB however, became more automatic after training. Elderly showed no Time effect for NFB while this effect was present (and was significantly bigger) in Young. The consolidation processes may thus be slower in Elderly to yield extensive neural activation changes, especially for the difficult situation when no Feedback is present. Future studies should reveal whether Elderly experience greater benefits from a longer training time.

Training Intervention Improves Memory in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Healthy Controls, but Plasma BDNF Acts Differentially Bittner, D. M.1, Bittner, V.1, Hausmann, J.1, Reinhold, D.2, Machts, J.1, Westphal, S.3, Heinze, H.-J.1,4, Schott, B.5, Kaufmann, J.1, & Mller, N. J.4 1 University of Magdeburg, Dept. of Neurology, Germany 2 University of Magdeburg, Institute of Molecular and Clinical Immunology, Germany 3 University of Magdeburg, Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Biochemistry, Germany 4 German Center of Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) 5 Charit Berlin, Dep. of Psychiatry, Germany Although mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and especially the amnestic subtype is considered a high risk factor for later dementia of the Alzheimer’s type (AD), as of now there is no pharmacological treatment available for this condition. Some nonpharmacological intervention studies have suggested a benefit of memory functioning and activities of daily living in MCI patients receiving a cognitive and/or physical training regimen. There is growing evidence that plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of AD. Here we show in a randomized, controlled study that a 12-week combined cognitive-motor intervention study improved episodic memory in 38 subjects with amnestic MCI and 21 healthy controls. Memory improvement was associated in both groups with hippocampal growth as assessed by high-resolution MRI. Moreover in healthy controls memory improvement was paralleled by an increase in BDNF. Apart from the long term increase, there were also short term changes (after a single training unit) and these short term effects persisted throughout the training program. In contrast, in MCI patients there was no long term change in BDNF levels and short term changes were found Journal of Psychophysiology 2013; 27 (Suppl. 1), 9–75

50


to decrease over the course of the intervention program. These findings support the utility of a combined cognitive and physical intervention in MCI with effects comparable to that observed in healthy controls. However, the underlying mechanisms seem to be different and point to an impaired BDNF modulation in MCI.

the disease. The action knowledge system seems to be particularly sensitive to the progression of the disease. Understanding praxis disorders in AD sheds light on the cognitive mechanisms involved in the processing of objects and can affect the management of these difficulties in activities of daily living of AD patients.

Apraxia and Alzheimer’s Disease: A Study of the Praxic Semantic System

Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D is not Associated With Domain-Specific Cognitive Performance in Dutch Elderly

Elisa, B., Liliana, R. D., & Agn s, D. UMR 5263 CNRS-EPHE-Universit Toulouse II, Laboratoire ‘CLLE-LTC, Toulouse, France Objectives: The study assessed the praxic abilities in patients with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Rothi et al.’s model (1991, 1997) suggests that praxis processing implicates two cognitive systems: a production and a conceptual system. The latter, named the praxic semantic system (PSS) could comprise two subsystems: one processes the objectrelated semantic knowledge (conceptual system), the other processes the knowledge of object-related actions (action semantic system).The aims of the study was to 1) investigate the impact of AD on the PSS, 2) evaluate whether a differential impairment existed within the PSS system, and 3) evaluate the evolution pattern of this alteration in mild versus moderate AD patients. Methods: 27 AD patients, 14 mild AD patients (19< MMSE