Some effects of aging on event-related potentials during a linguistic monitoring task

Abstract

Two groups of adults, one young and one elderly, were compared on a dichotic task in which continuous speech was monitored for grammatically and semantically anomalous words. Event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by these anomalies were analyzed in terms of peak amplitude and peak latency of the evoked late-positive component (LPC). Results showed that while LPC peak amplitudes were overall reduced for the group of seniors, LPC peak latencies were similar between both groups of listeners. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that elderly persons can offset declines in memory, perceptual processes, and speed of mental processing by taking advantage of contextual and prosodic cues in running speech. Additionally, an apparently asymmetric processing negativity was observed in the waveforms of young adults but not seniors. Possible mechanisms include the N400 response to semantic incongruity and a processing negativity component associated with attentional bias toward right hemispace.

Looking at the Sunny Side of Life

“…By contrast, the amplitude of response to the negative images exhibited a gradual, consistent, and significant linear decrease beginning in the 20s and continuing until late life. So although there appears to be some generalized age-related dampening for the LPP waveform—similar to the dampening of other late positive ERP components that are elicited by nonevaluative expectancy violations (e.g., Federmeier, Van Petten, Schwartz, & Kutas, 2003; Jerger & Martin, 2005), including the P300 (reviewed by Kok, 2000)—the results of the present study demonstrate an interaction between age and emotional valence. Specifically, the LPP responses to positive and negative information exhibited differential age-related patterns of change.…”

The Effect of Middle Age on the Late Positive Component of the Auditory Event-Related Potential

“…In contrast, LPC waveform morphology is more variable in a complex listening paradigm, such as dichotic listening (Jerger and Lew, 2004). Using a dichotic task in which grammatically and semantically anomalous words were employed, Jerger and Martin (2005) showed that LPC peak amplitude was reduced in senior adults (68-77 yr) as compared to young adults (18-33 yr), but no significant differences in LPC peak latencies were found between the two groups. Consistent with a behavioral dichotic rightear advantage, increased LPC amplitude and shorter latencies have been shown in the right ear as compared to the left ear in the elderly (Jerger et al, 2000;Greenwald and Jerger, 2001;Jerger and Martin, 2005).…”

The Need for and Development of an Adaptive Listening and Communication Enhancement (LACE™) Program

“…Threshold elevation can account for nearly all of the changes in speech perception with age in quiet or in less demanding listening environments (Humes, 1996). But in complex perceptual tasks, older listeners are more likely to demonstrate interhemispheric differences, changes in event-related potentials (Jerger and Martin, 2005), and suprathreshold deficits in addition to the effects of reduced audibility. It is unclear exactly which factors account for this (Gordon-Salant and Fitzgibbons, 1997;Pichora-Fuller and Souza, 2003), though several possibilities will be discussed below.…”