Unifying cognitive aging: From neuromodulation to representation to cognition

Li, Shu-Chen; Lindenberger, Ulman; Frensch, Peter A.

doi:10.1016/s0925-2312(00)00256-3

Cited by 93 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Our study was guided by the neural noise hypothesis of aging (Welford, 1981(Welford, , 1984 as well as related predictions of greater discriminal dispersion (Allen et al, 1998a(Allen et al, , 1998b, and reduced distinctiveness of neural representations (Li et al, 2000;Li & Sikström, 2002) with advancing adult age. Evidence from animal models (Hua et al, 2006;Liang et al, 2010;Yang et al, 2009) has suggested higher levels of neural noise in the aging nervous system.…”

Section: Rationale and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Normal aging increases discriminal dispersion in visuospatial short-term memory.

Noack¹,

Lövdén²,

Lindenberger³

2012

Psychology and Aging

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Computational models of cognitive aging propose that age-related decrements in cognitive performance, including short-term memory (STM), result from less distinct stimulus representations. When applied to visual STM, these models predict higher discriminal dispersion (L. L. Thurstone, 1927, Psychophysical analysis, The American Journal of Psychology, 38, in older adults than in younger adults. To test this prediction, we used a change-detection paradigm for visuospatial locations, with different levels of cognitive load (one, three, or five items) and retention interval (100 or 1,000 ms). Adult age differences were not reliable at Load 1, but were substantial at Loads 3 and 5. Effects of retention time did not differ across age groups, suggesting that age-related differences originated mainly from early processing stages. Applying a mixture model to the data revealed age-related increases in discriminal dispersion and decreases in asymptotic discrimination performance (indexing STM capacity). We concluded that age-related declines in discriminal dispersion, in addition to increasing capacity limitations, impair visual STM performance with advancing adult age.

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Section: Rationale and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Normal aging increases discriminal dispersion in visuospatial short-term memory.

Noack¹,

Lövdén²,

Lindenberger³

2012

Psychology and Aging

Self Cite

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“…In an interesting parallel, all the cognitive inefficiencies described earlier have also been found in older adults during normal aging (Braver & Barch, 2002;Daniels et al, 2006;Robbins et al, 1998), and several researchers have explicitly suggested that age-related dopamine depletion is one main contributor to cognitive dysfunction in the elderly (Braver & Barch, 2002;Li et al, 2000;Rubin, 1999). In an earlier study, we assessed the abilities of older and younger adults to perform a complex task involving planning, working memory, and executive control; the task simulated cooking breakfast and was ecologically valid and interesting to carry out (Craik & Bialystok, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Planning and task management in Parkinson's disease: Differential emphasis in dual-task performance

Bialystok

Craik

Stefurak

2008

J. Inter. Neuropsych. Soc.

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Seventeen patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease completed a complex computer-based task that involved planning and management while also performing an attention-demanding secondary task. The tasks were performed concurrently, but it was necessary to switch from one to the other. Performance was compared to a group of healthy age-matched control participants and a group of young participants. Parkinson's patients performed better than the age-matched controls on almost all measures and as well as the young controls in many cases. However, the Parkinson's patients achieved this by paying relatively less attention to the secondary task and focusing attention more on the primary task. Thus, Parkinson's patients can apparently improve their performance on some aspects of a multidimensional task by simplifying task demands. This benefit may occur as a consequence of their inflexible exaggerated attention to some aspects of a complex task to the relative neglect of other aspects. (JINS, 2008, 14, 257-265.)

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“…A recent life span study (Li et al, 2004) demonstrated that trial-to-trial variability becomes increasingly predictive of fluid intelligence in older age. Such increased trial-to-trial variability in aging may represent the effects of degraded neural processing efficiency associated with neurological disease (Hultsch, MacDonald, Hunter, Levy-Bencheton, & Strauss, 2000) or the aging brain (Li, Lindenberger, & Frensch, 2000). Salthouse and Berish (2005) identified several reasons why understanding the causes and correlates of WP variability is important on both practical and theoretical grounds.…”

Section: Nih-pa Author Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intraindividual coupling of daily stress and cognition.

Sliwinski¹,

Smyth²,

Hofer³

et al. 2006

Psychology and Aging

261

238

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Most psychological theories predict associations among processes that transpire within individuals. However, these theories are often tested by examining relationships at the between-persons (BP) rather than the within-persons (WP) level. The authors examined the WP and BP relationships between daily stress and daily variability in cognitive performance. Daily stress and cognitive performance were assessed on 6 occasions in 108 older adults and 68 young adults. WP variability in stress predicted WP variability in response times (RTs) on a 2-back working memory task in both younger and older adults. That is, RTs were slower on high-stress days compared with low-stress days. There was evidence of an amplified WP stress effect in the older adults on a serial attention task. There was no evidence of stress effects on simple versions of these tasks that placed minimal demands on working memory. These results are consistent with theories that postulate that stressrelated cognitive interference competes for attentional resources. Keywordsaging; cognition; working memory; stress; intraindividual variability There is impressive evidence of stable individual differences on cognitive measures, even across very long time spans (Deary, Whiteman, Starr, Whalley, & Fox, 2004). Accordingly, most theories of intellectual and cognitive function have focused on these stable individual differences for inferences regarding relationships among cognitive processes (e.g., Carroll, 1993). Despite impressive stability in intellectual functioning, individuals do vary in cognitive performance even over very short retest intervals (Hertzog, Dixon, & Hultsch, 1992;Li, Aggen, Nesselroade, & Baltes, 2001). Such "state-based" variability is often relegated to the domain of measurement error and viewed as both a theoretical and a methodological nuisance. However, a number of psychologists have argued that the focused study of intraindividual or within-persons (WP) cognitive variability is critical for understanding developmental cognitive changes (Hultsch & MacDonald, 2004;Nesselroade & Ram, 2004;Siegler, 1994). We concur with this view and hope to demonstrate that modeling WP cognitive variability can facilitate understanding of basic cognitive function.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Martin J. Sliwinski, Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244. mjsliwin@syr.edu. NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptA number of researchers have postulated that trial-to-trial performance variability is a fundamental characteristic of both brain function and individual differences in human intelligence. Specifically, higher levels of cognitive variability correlate with lower levels of intelligence (Jensen, 1992;Rabbitt, Osman, Moore, & Stollery, 2001). A recent life span study (Li et al., 2004) demonstrated that trial-to-trial variability becomes increasingly predictive of fluid intelligence in older age. Such increased trial-to-trial variabilit...

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Unifying cognitive aging: From neuromodulation to representation to cognition

Cited by 93 publications

References 30 publications

Normal aging increases discriminal dispersion in visuospatial short-term memory.

Normal aging increases discriminal dispersion in visuospatial short-term memory.

Planning and task management in Parkinson's disease: Differential emphasis in dual-task performance

Intraindividual coupling of daily stress and cognition.

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