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Article
The Effects of Aging on Controlled Attention and Conflict Processing in the Stroop Task
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (2006)
  • Robert West, University of Notre Dame
Abstract

Recent computational modeling and behavioral work indicate that age-related declines in the ability to represent task context may contribute to disruptions of working memory and selective attention in older adults. However, it is unclear whether age-related declines in context processing arise from a disruption of the encoding or maintenance of task context and how age-related declines in context processing interact with mechanisms supporting conflict detection and resolution processes contributing to efficient selection of task-relevant information. This study examines the effects of aging on the neural correlates of context and conflict processing in the Stroop task using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Age-related differences in the time course of modulations of the ERPs associated with encoding (P3) and maintaining (slow wave) task context were observed. There were also age-related differences in the N450, conflict SP, and ERN associated with conflict processing that interacted with task context. These data indicate that aging is associated with declines in the efficiency of those neural mechanisms supporting both context and conflict processing, and that the effects of aging are not pervasive but rather interact with task context.

Publication Date
March, 2006
Publisher Statement
This article is from Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 16 (2004): 103, doi:10.1162/089892904322755593. Posted with permission. This article can be found at, http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/089892904322755593#.VOysDC40ObE.
Citation Information
Robert West. "The Effects of Aging on Controlled Attention and Conflict Processing in the Stroop Task" Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience Vol. 16 Iss. 1 (2006)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/robert_west/3/