Fjell A M, Walhovd K B
Institute of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway.
Brain Topogr. 2001 Fall;14(1):25-40. doi: 10.1023/a:1012563605837.
The rationale for the present study was to investigate several aspects of P300 topography in relation to aging and neuropsychological measures. We administered an auditory oddball ERP task to 72 participants aged 21.8 to 94.7 years, 36 males and 36 females, in addition to the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence (WASI) and digit span from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales--Revised (WAIS-R). The relationship between age and P300 latency and amplitude at different electrodes was investigated, as well as the changes in the correlational pattern between P300 latency and amplitude with increasing age. A formal test of curvilinear relationships for P300 latency/amplitude and age was performed. Principal component factor analyses were performed for P300 latency and amplitude separately in order to check for possible superordinate structures in the distribution of the electrical activity measured at the scalp. In addition, each of the electrodes and each of the factors were correlated with the different neuropsychological measures, and the contribution of age to the observed relationships is discussed. The main conclusion drawn is that the activity generated from different brain areas change at different rates with age. While the posterior area shows a clear reduction of P300 amplitude and a delay of P300 latency with age, the amplitude does not decrease at the same rate in the fronto-central areas, and there is at the same time a marked hemispheric asymmetry in the age dependent change of activation. Based on our data, it may be concluded that a curvilinear expression generally does not explain the aging effect on the ERP component P300. Correlations between neuropsychological measures and P300 did, as expected, vary with area of activation, and the strongest correlations were generally found between matrices, block design and digit span, and the midline and left fronto-temporal electrodes. These relationships were in turn mediated by age. Implications of the findings are discussed.
本研究的目的是调查与衰老及神经心理学测量相关的P300地形图的几个方面。除了韦氏成人智力量表修订版（WAIS-R）中的韦氏简式智力量表（WASI）和数字广度测试外，我们对72名年龄在21.8至94.7岁之间的参与者（36名男性和36名女性）进行了听觉oddball事件相关电位（ERP）任务。研究了年龄与不同电极处P300潜伏期和波幅之间的关系，以及随着年龄增长P300潜伏期和波幅之间相关模式的变化。对P300潜伏期/波幅与年龄之间的曲线关系进行了正式检验。分别对P300潜伏期和波幅进行主成分因子分析，以检查头皮测量的电活动分布中可能存在的上级结构。此外，将每个电极和每个因子与不同的神经心理学测量进行相关分析，并讨论年龄对观察到的关系的影响。得出的主要结论是，不同脑区产生的活动随年龄增长的变化速率不同。随着年龄增长，后部区域P300波幅明显降低，潜伏期延迟，而额中央区域波幅降低的速率不同，同时激活的年龄依赖性变化存在明显的半球不对称性。根据我们的数据，可以得出结论，曲线表达式通常不能解释衰老对ERP成分P300的影响。正如预期的那样，神经心理学测量与P300之间的相关性因激活区域而异，通常在矩阵、积木设计和数字广度与中线及左额颞电极之间发现最强的相关性。这些关系又受年龄介导。讨论了研究结果的意义。
