Daffner Kirk R, Chong Hyemi, Riis Jenna, Rentz Dorene M, Wolk David A, Budson Andrew E, Holcomb Phillip J
Brigham Behavioral Neurology Group, Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Neuropsychology. 2007 May;21(3):291-300. doi: 10.1037/0894-4105.21.3.291.
In this study, the authors investigated the relationship between the cognitive status of normal adults and age-related changes in attention to novel and target events. Old, middle-age, and young subjects, divided into cognitively high and cognitively average performing groups, viewed repetitive standard stimuli, infrequent target stimuli, and unique novel visual stimuli. Subjects controlled viewing duration by a button press that led to the onset of the next stimulus. They also responded to targets by pressing a foot pedal. The amount of time spent looking at different kinds of stimuli served as a measure of visual attention and exploratory activity. Cognitively high performers spent more time viewing novel stimuli than cognitively average performers. The magnitude of the difference between cognitively high and cognitively average performing groups was largest among old subjects. Cognitively average performers had slower and less accurate responses to targets than cognitively high performers. The results provide strong evidence that the link between engagement by novelty and higher cognitive performance increases with age. Moreover, the results support the notion of there being different patterns of normal cognitive aging and the need to identify the factors that influence them.
在本研究中，作者调查了正常成年人的认知状态与对新异和目标事件注意力的年龄相关变化之间的关系。老年、中年和青年受试者被分为认知能力高和认知能力中等的表现组，观看重复性标准刺激、罕见目标刺激和独特的新异视觉刺激。受试者通过按下按钮来控制观看持续时间，按下按钮会引发下一个刺激的出现。他们还通过踩脚踏板对目标做出反应。观看不同类型刺激所花费的时间用作视觉注意力和探索活动的一种度量。认知能力高的受试者比认知能力中等的受试者花费更多时间观看新异刺激。认知能力高和认知能力中等的表现组之间的差异幅度在老年受试者中最大。认知能力中等的受试者对目标的反应比认知能力高的受试者更慢且准确性更低。结果提供了有力证据，表明因新异性而产生的参与度与更高认知表现之间的联系随着年龄增长而增强。此外，结果支持存在正常认知老化不同模式的观点以及识别影响这些模式的因素的必要性。
