Age Differences in the Subcomponents of Executive Functioning

Abstract

Objectives Across the life span, deficits in executive functioning (EF) are associated with poor behavioral control and failure to achieve goals. Though EF is often discussed as one broad construct, a prominent model of EF suggests that it is composed of three subdomains: inhibition, set shifting, and updating. These subdomains are seen in both younger (YA) and older adults (OA), with performance deficits across subdomains in OA. Therefore, our goal was to investigate whether subdomains of EF might be differentially affected by age, and how these differences may relate to broader global age differences in EF. Methods To assess these age differences, we conducted a meta-analysis at multiple levels, including task level, subdomain level, and of global EF. Based on previous work, we hypothesized that there would be overall differences in EF in OA. Results Using 1,268 effect sizes from 401 articles, we found overall differences in EF with age. Results suggested that differences in performance are not uniform, such that variability in age effects emerged at the task level, and updating was not as affected by age as other subdomains. Discussion These findings advance our understanding of age differences in EF, and stand to inform early detection of EF decline.

Object attachment as we grow older

“…In addition to changes in physical functioning, decline in certain domains of cognitive functioning is an inevitable consequence of aging. With regards to object attachment, the most relevant cognitive domain to decline with advancing age is executive functioning [ 21 ]. Executive functioning has been linked to pathological levels of object attachment generally [ 22 ] and in older adults specifically [ 23 ].…”

“…Executive functioning has been linked to pathological levels of object attachment generally [ 22 ] and in older adults specifically [ 23 ]. Of the subdomains of executive functioning, inhibition and set-shifting are most likely to be affected by age [ 21 ] and are also most significantly associated with increases in object hoarding [ 22 ]. Thus, as adults age they may be less able to engage in decision making about which objects they should keep or discard.…”

Shaky scaffolding: Age differences in cerebellar activation revealed through activation likelihood estimation meta‐analysis

“…While an understanding of brain-behavior relationships is a key question moving forward, the inclusion of a behavioral meta-analysis here is beyond the scope of our work. Furthermore, there are numerous existing behavioral meta-analyses across domains demonstrating age differences in performance (e.g., Maldonado, Orr, Goen, & Bernard, 2020;Verhaeghen and Cerella, 2002;Wasylyshyn et al, 2011), negating the need for an additional behavioral meta-analysis here. Furthermore, in some studies, it is possible that there were no cerebellar foci reported due to incomplete coverage of the structure.…”

Stroop switching card test: brief screening of executive functions across the lifespan

“…When performing cognitive control tasks, older adults show different functional activation patterns than younger adults in the prefrontal cortex. Some of these age-related changes are associated with better task performance (e.g., compensatory response), which reduces the informative value of the test (Maldonado et al, 2020). A supposed way to increase the sensitivity EF tests is to assess the overall efficiency of EF because this strategy exhausts the compensatory response.…”