Beyond prospective memory retrieval: Encoding and remembering of intentions across the lifespan.

Combining behavioral and electrophysiological measures, we investigated the role of memory processes for prospective memory development in three different age groups over the lifespan. We focused on age differences during intention encoding, retention and retrieval in order to assess if potential age-associated performance differences in adolescence and older age can be explained by associated neurophysiological differences. Our research aim was to understand the impact of memory-related factors such as intention load and encoding time on prospective remembering, focusing especially on encoding and retention, which are two so far scarcely investigated phases.

The role of cue detection for prospective memory development across the lifespan.

Behavioral findings suggest an inverted U-shaped pattern of prospective memory development across the lifespan. A key mechanism underlying this development is the ability to detect cues. We examined the influence of cue detection on prospective memory, combining behavioral and electrophysiological measures, in three age groups: adolescents (12-14 years), young (19-28 years), and old adults (66-77 years).

Neural correlates of changes in a visual search task due to cognitive training in seniors.

This study aimed to elucidate the underlying neural sources of near transfer after a multidomain cognitive training in older participants in a visual search task. Participants were randomly assigned to a social control, a no-contact control and a training group, receiving a 4-month paper-pencil and PC-based trainer guided cognitive intervention. All participants were tested in a before and after session with a conjunction visual search task.

Age-related differences in working memory performance in a 2-back task.

The present study aimed to elucidate the neuro-cognitive processes underlying age-related differences in working memory. Young and middle-aged participants performed a two-choice task with low and a 2-back task with high working memory load. The P300, an event-related potential reflecting controlled stimulus-response processing in working memory, and the underlying neuronal sources of expected age-related differences were analyzed using sLORETA.

Age-related differences in performance and stimulus processing in dual task situation.

Competition for limited processing resources is most critical in dual-tasks which incorporate cognitive and motor demands. Performance is usually diminished with increasing age in such tasks. This decline is relevant for activities in real life like driving.

Effects of working memory load on performance and cardiovascular activity in younger and older workers.

Background: Working memory (WM) declines with ageing, and this may cause problems in older workers who have to do complex work requiring WM.

Purpose: We tested the assumption that an increase in WM load negatively affects performance and results in impaired cardiovascular adaptation to changing task demands in older workers relative to younger ones.

Method: Thirty-three younger (29 ± 3 years) and 32 older (55 ± 3 years) workers had to perform a visual 0-back (low WM load) and 2-back (high WM load) task.

Preparatory processes and compensatory effort in older and younger participants in a driving-like dual task.

Objective: The nature of increased-age-related dual-task interference was examined during a driving-like dual task in the laboratory.

Background: Previous research revealed age-related deficits in dual tasks especially when cognitive and motor demands are involved. The specific contributions of sensory input, working memory demands, and/or coordination of motor responses to dual-task interference are not clear and should be clarified in the present study.

Age related strategic differences in processing irrelevant information.

Deficient control of irrelevant information with greater age can be demonstrated in paradigms like inhibition of return (IOR). IOR is a mechanism to protect the organism from redirecting attention to a previously scanned irrelevant location and is assumed to be generated slower but to a comparable amount with increasing age. We investigated this putative deficit by means of event-related potentials (ERPs).

Effects of aging and job demands on cognitive flexibility assessed by task switching.

In a cross-sectional, electrophysiological study 91 workers of a big car factory performed a series of switch tasks to assess their cognitive control functions. Four groups of workers participated in the study: 23 young and 23 middle aged assembly line employees and 22 young and 23 middle aged employees with flexible job demands like service and maintenance. Participants performed three digit categorisation tasks.

Age-dependent impairment of auditory processing under spatially focused and divided attention: an electrophysiological study.

By using event-related potentials (ERPs) the present study examines if age-related differences in preparation and processing especially emerge during divided attention. Binaurally presented auditory cues called for focused (valid and invalid) or divided attention to one or both ears. Responses were required to subsequent monaurally presented valid targets (vowels), but had to be suppressed to non-target vowels or invalidly cued vowels.

Neural activity associated with executive functions in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

This study used event-related potentials (ERPs) and flanker-task performance to compare executive functions in adolescents with ADHD, their siblings and independent healthy controls. The aim was to investigate the processing of distracting stimuli, control over inappropriate responses, and the detection of errors in the presence of incompatible and No-go stimuli (arrow-heads and a circle, respectively). Performance showed no major differences between the groups, although No-go errors were numerically increased for the patients.

Feedback-related processes during a time-production task in young and older adults.

Objective: We examined whether the age-related decline in the integrity of the mid-brain dopamine system plays a role in the adaptation of precisely timed motor responses by feedback information.

Methods: Participants performed a time-production task with feedback given after each trial. They were encouraged to use the feedback for improving temporal response accuracy.

Time estimation in healthy ageing and neurodegenerative basal ganglia disorders.

A decline in motor performance and timing performance is evident not only in clinical patient groups, e.g. with Parkinson's or Huntington's disease but also in normal ageing.

Flanker interference in young and older participants as reflected in event-related potentials.

The present study investigates behavioural and event-related potential (ERP) differences between young and older participants in two variants of a flanker task. Flankers preceded the target by 100 ms (Experiment 1) or were presented simultaneously with the target (Experiment 2). In both experiments the response times showed an age-related slowing and a compatibility effect, which did not differ significantly across age.

Interaction of facial expressions and familiarity: ERP evidence.

There is mounting evidence that under some conditions the processing of facial identity and facial emotional expressions may not be independent; however, the nature of this interaction remains to be established. By using event-related brain potentials (ERP) we attempted to localize these interactions within the information processing system. During an expression discrimination task (Experiment 1) categorization was faster for portraits of personally familiar vs.

Effects of ageing on cognitive task preparation as reflected by event-related potentials.

Objective: The anticipation of complex cognitive tasks involves effortful preparation being reflected in the contingent negative variation (CNV) of the event-related potential. In the literature there are contradictory results concerning the effect of age on this potential. We wanted to investigate effects of age, time-on-task, and task difficulty on the CNV.

Auditory change detection in schizophrenia: sources of activity, related neuropsychological function and symptoms in patients with a first episode in adolescence, and patients 14 years after an adolescent illness-onset.

Background: The event-related brain response mismatch negativity (MMN) registers changes in auditory stimulation with temporal lobe sources reflecting short-term echoic memory and frontal sources a deviance-induced switch in processing. Impairment, controversially present at the onset of schizophrenia, develops rapidly and can remain independent of clinical improvement. We examined the characteristics of the scalp-recorded MMN and related these to tests of short-term memory and set-shifting.

Maturation processes in automatic change detection as revealed by event-related brain potentials and dipole source localization: significance for adult AD/HD.

Mismatch negativity (MMN) is an event-related potential reflecting automatic attention-related information processing marking the detection of auditory change. The bilateral scalp distribution develops by 14 years of age, and is elicited with adult latencies by 17 years. But consistent with reports of continued brain maturation after adolescence, we show here that features of the temporal and frontal lobe dipole sources also continue to develop in the third decade of life.

The functional locus of the lateralized readiness potential.

The lateralized readiness potential (LRP) is considered to reflect motor activation and has been used extensively as a tool in elucidating cognitive processes. In the present study, we attempted to more precisely determine the origins of the LRP within the cognitive system. The response selection and motor programming stages were selectively manipulated by varying symbolic stimulus response compatibility and the time to peak force of an isometric finger extension response.

Are fingers special? Evidence about movement preparation from event-related brain potentials.

Ulrich, Leuthold, and Sommer (1998) suggested that movement preparation at the level of the motor cortex, as indexed by the lateralized readiness potential (LRP), proceeds in a strongly hierarchical fashion, where parameters other than response hand are prepared only if all the movement parameters are known. These conclusions were based on an experiment where a precue provided information about response hand, direction of finger movement, and movement force. To assess the generality of these findings, we replaced the force parameter with response finger.