scholarly journals Age differences in reward-motivation attention: behavioural and ERP evidence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farrah Kudus
Keyword(s):  
Age Differences ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
Attention Network Test ◽  
Attention Network ◽  
Systems Research ◽  
Attentional Networks ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Reward Motivation

The attentional system is comprised of three networks: alerting, orienting, and executive control, all of which are associated with unique neural systems. Research examining motivationcognition interactions implicate the dopaminergic and locus-coeruleus norepinephrine systems in attentional and motivational processes, both of which show age differences. The current study was conducted to explore the mechanisms through which gain and loss motivation affect attention across the lifespan, using behavioural and electrophysiological markers of attentional networks. Younger adults (18-33 years) and older adults (65-80 years) completed an incentivized version of the Attention Network Test. Our behavioural results showed age differences in incentive sensitivity, such that responses were modulated as a function of incentives. We also examined cue-N1, target-N1, and target-P3, which showed transient incentive-based modulation, and depended on incentive valence. Overall, our study provides evidence for age-related differences in the modulation of attentional networks, and contributes new insights into the mechanisms behind motivation-cognition interactions. Keywords: Attention Network Test, Motivation, Incentives, Cognitive Aging, Alerting, Executive Control

scholarly journals Age differences in reward-motivation attention: behavioural and ERP evidence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farrah Kudus
Keyword(s):  
Age Differences ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Neural Systems ◽  
Attention Network Test ◽  
Attention Network ◽  
Systems Research ◽  
Attentional Networks ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Reward Motivation

The attentional system is comprised of three networks: alerting, orienting, and executive control, all of which are associated with unique neural systems. Research examining motivationcognition interactions implicate the dopaminergic and locus-coeruleus norepinephrine systems in attentional and motivational processes, both of which show age differences. The current study was conducted to explore the mechanisms through which gain and loss motivation affect attention across the lifespan, using behavioural and electrophysiological markers of attentional networks. Younger adults (18-33 years) and older adults (65-80 years) completed an incentivized version of the Attention Network Test. Our behavioural results showed age differences in incentive sensitivity, such that responses were modulated as a function of incentives. We also examined cue-N1, target-N1, and target-P3, which showed transient incentive-based modulation, and depended on incentive valence. Overall, our study provides evidence for age-related differences in the modulation of attentional networks, and contributes new insights into the mechanisms behind motivation-cognition interactions. Keywords: Attention Network Test, Motivation, Incentives, Cognitive Aging, Alerting, Executive Control

Functioning of the Attentional Networks at Rest vs. During Acute Bouts of Aerobic Exercise

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 649-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florentino Huertas ◽  
Javier Zahonero ◽  
Daniel Sanabria ◽  
Juan Lupiáñez
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Aerobic Exercise ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Attention Network Test ◽  
General State ◽  
Attention Network ◽  
Attentional Functioning ◽  
Attentional Networks ◽  
Phasic Alertness ◽  
Rest Condition

The present study explored the effects of three different activity conditions on three attentional functions: alerting, orienting, and executive control. A group of highly experienced cyclists performed the Attention Network Test–Interactions (Callejas, Lupiáñez, & Tudela, 2004) at rest, during moderate aerobic exercise, and during intense aerobic exercise. Results indicated that aerobic exercise accelerated reaction time and reduced the alerting effect compared with the rest condition. However, aerobic exercise did not modulate the functioning of either the orienting or the executive control attentional networks. No differences in reaction time or attentional functioning were observed between the two aerobic exercise workloads. The present results suggest that moderate aerobic exercise modulates the functioning of phasic alertness by increasing the general state of tonic vigilance.

Eccentricity Effects on the Efficiency of Attentional Networks: Evidence From a Modified Attention Network Test

Perception ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (12) ◽  
pp. 1375-1386
Author(s):  
Bin Wang ◽  
Jingjing Zhao ◽  
Zheng Wu ◽  
Wei Shang ◽  
Jie Xiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Attention Network Test ◽  
Attention Network ◽  
Attentional Networks

scholarly journals Bilingual experience and executive control over the adult lifespan: The role of biological sex

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (04) ◽  
pp. 733-751 ◽  
Author(s):  
SIVANIYA SUBRAMANIAPILLAI ◽  
MARIA NATASHA RAJAH ◽  
STAMATOULA PASVANIS ◽  
DEBRA TITONE
Keyword(s):  
Executive Control ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Wisconsin Card Sort Test ◽  
Adult Women ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Card Sort ◽  
Adult Lifespan ◽  
Biological Sex ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Improved Performance

We investigated whether bilingual language experience over the lifespan impacts women and men in a manner that differentially buffers against age-related declines in executive control. To this end, we investigated whether executive control performance in a lifespan sample of adult women and men were differentially impacted by individual differences in bilingual language experience, assessed using an unspeeded measure of executive control: the Wisconsin Card Sort Test. The results suggested that women showed both the greatest degree of age-related decline across WCST measures, and a greater likelihood than men to express improved performance as a function of increased bilingual experience. We consider implications of this finding for advancing our understanding of the relation between bilingualism and cognition, and also the effects of biological sex on cognitive aging.

scholarly journals Disentangling the Effects of Processing Speed on the Association between Age Differences and Fluid Intelligence

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Lena Schubert ◽  
Dirk Hagemann ◽  
Christoph Löffler ◽  
Gidon T. Frischkorn
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Mediation Effect ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Response Planning ◽  
Age Related

Several studies have demonstrated that individual differences in processing speed fully mediate the association between age and intelligence, whereas the association between processing speed and intelligence cannot be explained by age differences. Because measures of processing speed reflect a plethora of cognitive and motivational processes, it cannot be determined which specific processes give rise to this mediation effect. This makes it hard to decide whether these processes should be conceived of as a cause or an indicator of cognitive aging. In the present study, we addressed this question by using a neurocognitive psychometrics approach to decompose the association between age differences and fluid intelligence. Reanalyzing data from two previously published datasets containing 223 participants between 18 and 61 years, we investigated whether individual differences in diffusion model parameters and in ERP latencies associated with higher-order attentional processing explained the association between age differences and fluid intelligence. We demonstrate that individual differences in the speed of non-decisional processes such as encoding, response preparation, and response execution, and individual differences in latencies of ERP components associated with higher-order cognitive processes explained the negative association between age differences and fluid intelligence. Because both parameters jointly accounted for the association between age differences and fluid intelligence, age-related differences in both parameters may reflect age-related differences in anterior brain regions associated with response planning that are prone to be affected by age-related changes. Conversely, age differences did not account for the association between processing speed and fluid intelligence. Our results suggest that the relationship between age differences and fluid intelligence is multifactorially determined.

Efficiency of Attentional Components in Elderly with Mild Neurocognitive Disorders Shown by the Attention Network Test

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 93-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Lu ◽  
Sandra S.M. Chan ◽  
Ada W.T. Fung ◽  
Linda C.W. Lam
Keyword(s):  
Executive Control ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Neurocognitive Disorders ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Attention Network Test ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Ratio Score ◽  
Attention Network ◽  
Network Functions ◽  
Complex Attention

Aims: Complex attention, serving as a main diagnostic item of mild neurocognitive disorders (NCD), has been reported to be susceptible to pathological ageing. This study aimed to evaluate the attention network functions in older adults with subtypes of NCD. Methods: 36 adults with NCD due to Alzheimer's disease (NCD-AD), 31 adults with NCD due to vascular disease (NCD-vascular) and 137 healthy controls were recruited. Attention Network Test (ANT) was conducted to assess the efficiency of alerting, orienting and executive control. Results: Significant between-group differences were found in executive control (conventional score: F = 11.472, p < 0.001; ratio score: F = 8.430, p < 0.001) and processing speed (F = 4.958, p = 0.008). NCD subgroups demonstrated poorer performance on the ANT, particularly on executive control (healthy 59.9 ± 45.9, NCD-vascular 88.9 ± 44.8, NCD-AD 97.0 ± 53.9). Moreover, the NCD-AD group showed both less efficient executive control and prominent slowing processing speed (reaction time: healthy 687.5 ± 106.0 ms, NCD-vascular 685.3 ± 97.1 ms, NCD-AD 750.6 ± 132.6 ms). Conclusions: The NCD-vascular group appeared to be less efficient in executive control, while the NCD-AD group demonstrated less effective executive control and also slower processing speed. These results suggest that the characterized performance of ANT, processing speed and executive control in particular, might help differentiate adults at risk of different forms of cognitive impairment.

scholarly journals Moving toward a neuroplasticity view of bilingualism, executive control, and aging

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 857-894 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHARI BAUM ◽  
DEBRA TITONE
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Successful Aging ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Cognitive Capacity ◽  
Neurocognitive Functions ◽  
Age Related

ABSTRACTNormal aging is an inevitable race between increasing knowledge and decreasing cognitive capacity. Crucial to understanding and promoting successful aging is determining which of these factors dominates for particular neurocognitive functions. Here, we focus on the human capacity for language, for which healthy older adults are simultaneously advantaged and disadvantaged. In recent years, a more hopeful view of cognitive aging has emerged from work suggesting that age-related declines in executive control functions are buffered by life-long bilingualism. In this paper, we selectively review what is currently known and unknown about bilingualism, executive control, and aging. Our ultimate goal is to advance the views that these issues should be reframed as a specific instance of neuroplasticity more generally and, in particular, that researchers should embrace the individual variability among bilinguals by adopting experimental and statistical approaches that respect the complexity of the questions addressed. In what follows, we set out the theoretical assumptions and empirical support of the bilingual advantages perspective, review what we know about language, cognitive control, and aging generally, and then highlight several of the relatively few studies that have investigated bilingual language processing in older adults, either on their own or in comparison with monolingual older adults. We conclude with several recommendations for how the field ought to proceed to achieve a more multifactorial view of bilingualism that emphasizes the notion of neuroplasticity over that of simple bilingual versus monolingual group comparisons.

Attention Network Test reveals alerting network dysfunction in multiple sclerosis

2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Urbanek ◽  
Nicholetta Weinges-Evers ◽  
Judith Bellmann-Strobl ◽  
Markus Bock ◽  
Jan Dörr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Attention Network Test ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Attention Network ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Attentional Networks ◽  
Relapsing Remitting ◽  
Cognitive Slowing ◽  
Multiple Sclerosis Patients ◽  
Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis

Attention is one of the cognitive domains typically affected in multiple sclerosis. The Attention Network Test was developed to measure the function of the three distinct attentional networks, alerting, orienting, and executive control. The Attention Network Test has been performed in various neuropsychiatric conditions, but not in multiple sclerosis. Our objective was to investigate functions of attentional networks in multiple sclerosis by means of the Attention Network Test. Patients with relapsing—remitting multiple sclerosis (n = 57) and healthy controls (n = 57) matched for age, sex, and education performed the Attention Network Test. Significant differences between patients and controls were detected in the alerting network (p = 0.003), in contrast to the orienting (p = 0.696) and the conflict (p = 0.114) network of visual attention. Mean reaction time in the Attention Network Test was significantly longer in multiple sclerosis patients than in controls (p = 0.032), Multiple sclerosis patients benefited less from alerting cues for conflict resolution compared with healthy controls. The Attention Network Test revealed specific alterations of the attention network in multiple sclerosis patients which were not explained by an overall cognitive slowing.

scholarly journals Disentangling the Effects of Processing Speed on the Association between Age Differences and Fluid Intelligence

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Lena Schubert ◽  
Dirk Hagemann ◽  
Christoph Löffler ◽  
Gidon T. Frischkorn
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Mediation Effect ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Response Planning ◽  
Age Related

Several studies have demonstrated that individual differences in processing speed fully mediate the association between age and intelligence, whereas the association between processing speed and intelligence cannot be explained by age differences. Because measures of processing speed reflect a plethora of cognitive and motivational processes, it cannot be determined which specific processes give rise to this mediation effect. This makes it hard to decide whether these processes should be conceived of as a cause or an indicator of cognitive aging. In the present study, we addressed this question by using a neurocognitive psychometrics approach to decompose the association between age differences and fluid intelligence. Reanalyzing data from two previously published datasets containing 223 participants between 18 and 61 years, we investigated whether individual differences in diffusion model parameters and in ERP latencies associated with higher-order attentional processing explained the association between age differences and fluid intelligence. We demonstrate that individual differences in the speed of non-decisional processes such as encoding, response preparation, and response execution, and individual differences in latencies of ERP components associated with higher-order cognitive processes explained the negative association between age differences and fluid intelligence. Because both parameters jointly accounted for the association between age differences and fluid intelligence, age-related differences in both parameters may reflect age-related differences in anterior brain regions associated with response planning that are prone to be affected by age-related changes. Conversely, age differences did not account for the association between processing speed and fluid intelligence. Our results suggest that the relationship between age differences and fluid intelligence is multifactorially determined. Data and analysis code are available at https://osf.io/hy5fw/.

scholarly journals Attentional Skills in Soccer: Evaluating the Involvement of Attention in Executing a Goalkeeping Task in Virtual Reality

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 9341
Author(s):  
Andria Shimi ◽  
Vanessa Tsestou ◽  
Marios Hadjiaros ◽  
Kleanthis Neokleous ◽  
Marios Avraamides
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Attention Network Test ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Attention Network ◽  
Physical Abilities

Physical abilities are essential to goalkeepers in soccer but the involved cognitive abilities for these players have only recently become the focus of extensive research. In this study, we investigated the role of different aspects of attention in a basic goalkeeping task in soccer. One hundred participants assumed the role of a goalkeeper in immersive virtual reality (VR) and carried out a task that entailed blocking balls shot towards their goal. In addition, they carried out two computerized tasks each assessing different attentional abilities: the Attention Network Test provided scores for three well-established networks of attention, namely the alerting, the orienting, and the executive control. The Whack-a-Mole task evaluated inhibitory control, by measuring performance in a classic Go/No-Go task and tapping on response inhibition. A regression analysis revealed that all three attention network scores contributed to performance in the VR goalkeeping task. Furthermore, performance in the Whack-a-Mole task correlated significantly with performance in the VR goalkeeping task. Overall, findings confirm that cognitive skills relating to attention play a critical role in the efficient execution of soccer-specific tasks. These findings have important implications for the training of cognitive skills in sports.

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