Laboratorio de Psicofisioloxía e Neurociencia Cognitiva, Facultade de Psicoloxía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galiza, Spain.
Int J Psychophysiol. 2010 Nov;78(2):169-78. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2010.07.006. Epub 2010 Aug 10.
In the present study a face naming reaction time task was employed in order to evaluate the effect of age on performance and on movement related cortical potentials (MRCPs). In addition, the effect of three response categories with different cognitive demands (DON'T KNOW-don't know the name-, KNOW-correct naming- and TOT-tip-of the-tongue state) on performance and on MRCPs in a sample of older adults was evaluated. The same MRCPs found in a previous study in a sample of young adults were identified in older adults. The results indicated that older participants were generally slower at providing responses than young adults, and that both age groups showed longer reaction time in TOT than in DON'T KNOW and KNOW categories. The first component of readiness potential (1st-RP) showed larger amplitude and longer duration in older than in young adults, especially in the TOT category, which would explain the generally slower responses provided by older participants. In addition, in older adults, the 1st-RP was larger in TOT than in the DON'T KNOW category, but a slope reduction and stabilization were observed in TOT from the more demanding stages of stimulus processing. These results may reflect a lengthening in the preparation period in the TOT category, which probably explains the behavioural slowing in this category. The data of the present study suggest differences in the allocation of processing resources between groups, indicating that the sensoriomotor performance should be compromised more in older than in young adults in tasks with high cognitive load.
在本研究中，我们采用面孔命名反应时任务来评估年龄对表现和运动相关皮质电位（MRCPs）的影响。此外，我们还评估了在老年人群体中，三种具有不同认知需求的反应类别（DON'T KNOW-不知道名字、KNOW-正确命名和 TOT-舌尖状态）对表现和 MRCPs 的影响。在之前对年轻成年人样本的研究中发现了相同的 MRCPs，在老年成年人样本中也发现了相同的 MRCPs。结果表明，与年轻成年人相比，老年参与者通常提供反应的速度较慢，并且两个年龄组在 TOT 类别中的反应时间都比 DON'T KNOW 和 KNOW 类别长。准备电位的第一个成分（1st-RP）在老年参与者中比在年轻参与者中表现出更大的振幅和更长的持续时间，尤其是在 TOT 类别中，这可以解释老年参与者普遍较慢的反应。此外，在老年参与者中，TOT 中的 1st-RP 比 DON'T KNOW 类别中的大，但在 TOT 中，从刺激处理的要求较高的阶段开始，斜率降低并稳定。这些结果可能反映了 TOT 类别的准备期延长，这可能解释了在该类别中行为的减缓。本研究的数据表明，不同年龄组之间在处理资源的分配上存在差异，这表明在高认知负荷任务中，与年轻成年人相比，老年成年人的感觉运动表现可能受到更大的影响。
