Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychology University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada; School of Music, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Neurobiol Aging. 2018 Jun;66:1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2018.01.026. Epub 2018 Feb 9.
We examined the effect of age on listeners' ability to orient attention to an item in auditory short-term memory (ASTM) using high-density electroencephalography, while participants completed a delayed match-to-sample task. During the retention interval, an uninformative or an informative visual retro-cue guided attention to an item in ASTM. Informative cues speeded response times, but only for young adults. In young adults, informative retro-cues generated greater event-related potential amplitude between 450 and 650 ms at parietal sites, and an increased sustained potential over the left central scalp region, thought to index the deployment of attention and maintenance of the cued item in ASTM, respectively. Both modulations were reduced in older adults. Alpha and low beta oscillatory power suppression was greater when the retro-cue was informative than uninformative, especially in young adults. Our results point toward an age-related decline in orienting attention to the cued item in ASTM. Older adults may be dividing their attention between all items in working memory rather than selectively focusing attention on a single cued item.
我们使用高密度脑电图研究了年龄对听众在听觉短期记忆 (ASTM) 中定向注意力的能力的影响，同时参与者完成了延迟匹配样本任务。在保持间隔期间，一个无信息或信息性的视觉回溯线索引导注意力集中在 ASTM 中的一个项目上。信息性线索会加快反应时间，但仅对年轻成年人有效。在年轻成年人中，信息回溯线索在前顶叶区域产生了 450 到 650 毫秒之间更大的事件相关电位幅度，并且在左侧中央头皮区域产生了增加的持续电位，分别被认为是注意力的部署和对 ASTM 中提示项目的维持。这两种调制在老年人中都减少了。当回溯线索是信息性的而不是无信息性的时，alpha 和低 beta 振荡功率抑制更大，尤其是在年轻成年人中。我们的研究结果表明，在 ASTM 中定向注意力到提示项目的能力随年龄增长而下降。老年人可能会在工作记忆中的所有项目之间分配注意力，而不是选择性地将注意力集中在单个提示项目上。
