Gamboz Nadia, Zamarian Stefania, Cavallero Corrado
Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Suor Orsola Benincasa University, Naples, Italy.
Exp Aging Res. 2010 Jul;36(3):287-305. doi: 10.1080/0361073X.2010.484729.
This study investigates the effect of aging on alerting, orienting, and conflict resolution by assessing younger (mean age = 25.8) and older (mean age = 67.9) adults' performance in the Attention Network Test that combines, in a single experimental paradigm, a flanker task with alerting and orienting cues. The analyses of response times indicated equivalent orienting and conflict resolution effects in younger and older adults. By contrast, alerting was found to be significantly reduced in the elderly. This result is only marginally in accordance with recent studies addressing the issues of age-related differences in alerting, which provide mixed results. The possible role of methodological differences across studies in accounting for the controversial results concerning the aging affect on alerting is discussed.
本研究通过评估年轻人（平均年龄 = 25.8岁）和老年人（平均年龄 = 67.9岁）在注意力网络测试中的表现，来调查衰老对警觉、定向和冲突解决的影响。该测试在单一实验范式中将侧翼任务与警觉和定向线索相结合。反应时间分析表明，年轻人和老年人在定向和冲突解决方面的效果相当。相比之下，发现老年人的警觉性显著降低。这一结果仅在一定程度上与近期关于警觉方面年龄相关差异问题的研究相符，这些研究结果不一。本文讨论了不同研究方法上的差异在解释衰老对警觉影响的争议性结果中可能起到的作用。
