Age-related differences in performance and stimulus processing in dual task situation
Age-related differences in performance and stimulus processing in dual task situation
复制标题
DOI：
10.1016/j.brainres.2011.07.051
复制
发表时间：
2011-09-26
期刊：
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
Falkenstein, Michael
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hahn, Melanie;Wild-Wall, Nele;Falkenstein, Michael
有限的处理资源的竞争是最关键的双重任务，其中包括认知和运动的需求。在这些任务中，随着年龄的增长，表现通常会减弱。这种下降与驾驶等真实的生活活动有关。在本研究中，我们的目的是检查是否有年龄相关的差异，在刺激处理的双重任务，如果这些差异有一个驾驶类跟踪任务的性能的影响。年轻和年长的参与者进行了双重任务，包括跟踪任务和视觉注意力任务。同时记录脑电，计算事件相关电位P300（P3），作为受控刺激加工的反映。在视觉注意力任务中，老年人比年轻人表现出更多的失误和错误警报。对于年轻的参与者，P3显示出预期的模式，即相关刺激的振幅高于不相关刺激的振幅。这一点在老年参与者中没有发现。一般的年龄相关的跟踪性能下降是相对更明显的，如果需要在视觉注意力的任务，并在不相关的刺激后的二级运动反应。结果表明，老年人相比，年轻的参与者有更大的困难，以区分相关和不相关的刺激在双任务的情况下，因为他们可能适用于所有的刺激可比的注意力资源。这也可以解释较高的错误率。这些结果对于理解在真实的生活中的双重和多重任务情况下与年龄相关的刺激处理具有重要意义。(C)2011 Elsevier B.V.保留所有权利。
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. In the present study we aim to examine if there are age-related differences in stimulus processing in a dual-task and if these differences have an impact on performance of a driving-like tracking task. Young and older participants performed a dual-task consisting of a tracking task and a visual attention task. Alongside, the EEG was recorded for calculating the P300 (P3) of the event-related potential as a reflection of controlled stimulus processing. In the visual attention task older vs. young participants showed more misses and false alarms. For young participants the P3 shows an expected pattern of higher amplitudes for relevant compared to irrelevant stimuli. This was not found for the older participants. A general age-related decline in tracking performance was relatively more pronounced if a secondary motor response was required in the visual attention task and also after irrelevant stimuli. The results suggest that older compared to young participants had greater difficulties to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant stimuli in a dual-task situation as they probably apply comparable attentional resources to all stimuli. This may also explain the higher error rates. These results have important implications for the understanding of age-related stimulus processing in dual and multi task situations in real life as for instance driving. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.