Age-related changes in scalp topography to novel and target stimuli.

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded from young, middle-aged, and older adults to infrequent target and novel stimuli during a version of the oddball paradigm. Analyses of scalp distribution suggested that the shift to a more frontally oriented topography with increasing age was confined to the P3 component (as compared to N1 and P2) elicited by both target and novel stimuli. This first demonstration of an age-related shift in the scalp distribution of the novelty P3 elicited by auditory stimuli was associated with an age-related increase in the false-alarm rate to novel stimuli. These age-associated differences in scalp distribution and false-alarm rate are consistent with a change in frontal lobe activity with increasing age.