Neurobiology of Aging
Volume 33, Issue 1 , Pages 134-148 , January 2012

Distinct mechanisms for the impact of distraction and interruption on working memory in aging

  • Wesley C. Clapp
    • ,
  • Adam Gazzaley

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author at: University of California, San Francisco, 600 16th Street, Genentech Hall, Rm. N472J, San Francisco, CA 94158, United States. Tel.: +1 415 476 2162.

Received 17 July 2009 ,Revised 21 December 2009 ,Accepted 11 January 2010.

References 

  1. Baddeley A. Working Memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1986;
  2. Baddeley A. Working memory: looking back and looking forward. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 2003;4(10):829–839
  3. Benjamini Y, Hochberg Y. Controlling the false discovery rate—a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. J. R. Stat. Soc. Ser. B: Methodological. 1995;57:289–300
  4. Bentin S, Allison T, Puce A, Perez E, McCarthy G. Electrophysiological studies of face perception in humans. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 1996;8(6):551–565
  5. Berry AS, Zanto TP, Rutman AM, Clapp WC, Gazzaley A. Practice-related improvement in working memory is modulated by changes in processing external interference. J. NeuroPhysiol. 2009;102(3):1779–1789
  6. Bherer L, Kramer AF, Peterson MS, Colcombe S, Erickson K, Becic E. Testing the limits of cognitive plasticity in older adults: application to attentional control. Acta Psychol. (Amst.). 2006;123(3):261–278
  7. Bherer L, Kramer AF, Peterson MS, Colcombe S, Erickson K, Becic E. Transfer effects in task-set cost and dual-task cost after dual-task training in older and younger adults: further evidence for cognitive plasticity in attentional control in late adulthood. Exp. Aging Res. 2008;34(3):188–219
  8. Borella E, Carretti B, Cornoldi C, De Beni R. Working memory, control of interference and everyday experience of thought interference: when age makes the difference. Aging Clin. Exp. Res. 2007;19(3):200–206
  9. Campanella S, Montedoro C, Streel E, Verbanck P, Rosier V. Early visual components (P100, N170) are disrupted in chronic schizophrenic patients: an event-related potentials study. Neurophysiol. Clin. 2006;36(2):71–78
  10. Chaby L, George N, Renault B, Fiori N. Age-related changes in brain responses to personally known faces: an event-related potential (ERP) study in humans. Neurosci. Lett. 2003;349(2):125–129
  11. Chao LL, Knight RT. Human prefrontal lesions increase distractibility to irrelevant sensory inputs. Neuroreport. 1995;6(12):1605–1610
  12. Chao LL, Knight RT. Prefrontal deficits in attention and inhibitory control with aging. Cereb. Cortex. 1997;7(1):63–69
  13. Chao LL, Knight RT. Contribution of human prefrontal cortex to delay performance. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 1998;10(2):167–177
  14. Chaparro A, Wood JM, Carberry T. Effects of age and auditory and visual dual tasks on closed-road driving performance. Optom. Vis. Sci. 2005;82(8):747–754
  15. Clapp WC, Rubens MT, Gazzaley A. Mechanisms of working memory disruption by external interference. Cereb. Cortex. 2009;
  16. Clare Kelly AM, Hester R, Foxe JJ, Shpaner M, Garavan H. Flexible cognitive control: effects of individual differences and brief practice on a complex cognitive task. Neuroimage. 2006;31(2):866–886
  17. Conway AR, Cowan N, Bunting MF. The cocktail party phenomenon revisited: the importance of working memory capacity. Psychon. Bull. Rev. 2001;8(2):331–335
  18. Craik FI, Bialystok E. Planning and task management in older adults: cooking breakfast. Mem. Cognit. 2006;34(6):1236–1249
  19. Craik FI, Jennings JM. Human memory. In:  Craik FI,  Salthouse TA editor. Handbook of Aging and Cognition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum; 1992;
  20. Craik FI, Salthouse TA. Handbook of Aging and Cogntion II. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum; 2000;
  21. Cronin-Golomb A, Gilmore GC, Neargarder S, Morrison SR, Laudate TM. Enhanced stimulus strength improves visual cognition in aging and Alzheimer's disease. Cortex. 2007;43(7):952–966
  22. Crossley M, Hiscock M. Age-related differences in concurrent-task performance of normal adults: evidence for a decline in processing resources. Psychol. Aging. 1992;7(4):499–506
  23. Dobbs AR, Rule BG. Adult age differences in working memory. Psychol. Aging. 1989;4(4):500–503
  24. Doumas M, Smolders C, Krampe RT. Task prioritization in aging: effects of sensory information on concurrent posture and memory performance. Exp. Brain Res. 2008;
  25. Emery L, Hale S, Myerson J. Age differences in proactive interference, working memory, and abstract reasoning. Psychol. Aging. 2008;23(3):634–645
  26. Faulkner KA, Redfern MS, Cauley JA, Landsittel DP, Studenski SA, Rosano C, et al. Multitasking: association between poorer performance and a history of recurrent falls. J. Am. Geriatr. Soc. 2007;55(4):570–576
  27. Folstein MF, Folstein SE, McHugh PR. “Mini-mental state”. A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J. Psychiatr. Res. 1975;12(3):189–198
  28. Foos PW, Wright L. Adult age differences in the storage of information in working memory. Exp. Aging Res. 1992;18(1–2):51–57
  29. Forster S, Lavie N. Harnessing the wandering mind: the role of perceptual load. Cognition. 2009;111(3):345–355
  30. Gazzaley A, Clapp W, Kelley J, McEvoy K, Knight RT, D’Esposito M. Age-related top-down suppression deficit in the early stages of cortical visual memory processing. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2008;105(35):13122–13126
  31. Gazzaley A, Cooney JW, McEvoy K, Knight RT, D’Esposito M. Top-down enhancement and suppression of the magnitude and speed of neural activity. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 2005;17(3):507–517
  32. Gazzaley A, Cooney JW, Rissman J, D’Esposito M. Top-down suppression deficit underlies working memory impairment in normal aging. Nat. Neurosci. 2005;8(10):1298–1300
  33. Gazzaley A, Sheridan MA, Cooney JW, D’Esposito M. Age-related deficits in component processes of working memory. Neuropsychology. 2007;21(5):532–539
  34. Goffaux V, Jemel B, Jacques C, Rossion B, Schyns P. ERP evidence for task modulations on face perceptual processing at different spatial scales. Cogn. Sci. 2003;27(2):313–325
  35. Gomez Gonzalez CM, Clark VP, Fan S, Luck SJ, Hillyard SA. Sources of attention-sensitive visual event-related potentials. Brain Topogr. 1994;7(1):41–51
  36. Gothe K, Oberauer K, Kliegl R. Age differences in dual-task performance after practice. Psychol. Aging. 2007;22(3):596–606
  37. Grady CL, McIntosh AR, Bookstein F, Horwitz B. Age-related changes in regional cerebral blood flow during working memory for faces. Neuroimage. 1998;8(4):409–425
  38. Hasher L, Zacks RT, May CP. Inhibitory control, circadian arousal, and age. In:  Gopher D,  Koriat A editor. Attention and Performance. vol. XVII:Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 1999;p. 653–675
  39. Heinrich SP, Renkl AE, Bach M. Pattern specificity of human visual motion processing. Vision Res. 2005;45(16):2137–2143
  40. Herrmann M, Ehlis A, Ellgring H, Fallgatter A. Early stages (P100) of face perception in humans as measured with event-related potentials (ERPs). J. Neural. Transm. 2005;112(8):1073–1081
  41. Hoffmann M, Dorn TJ, Bach M. Time course of motion adaptation: motion-onset visual evoked potentials and subjective estimates. Vision Res. 1999;39(3):437–444
  42. Hoffmann MB, Unsold AS, Bach M. Directional tuning of human motion adaptation as reflected by the motion VEP. Vision Res. 2001;41(17):2187–2194
  43. Johnson MK, Mitchell KJ, Raye CL, Greene EJ. An age-related deficit in prefrontal cortical function associated with refreshing information. Psychol. Sci. 2004;15(2):127–132
  44. Johnson MK, Reeder JA, Raye CL, Mitchell KJ. Second thoughts versus second looks: an age-related deficit in reflectively refreshing just-activated information. Psychol. Sci. 2002;13(1):64–67
  45. Kane MJ, Engle RW. Working-memory capacity and the control of attention: the contributions of goal neglect, response competition, and task set to Stroop interference. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 2003;132(1):47–70
  46. Kim S, Hasher L, Zacks RT. Aging and a benefit of distractability. Psychon. Bull. Rev. 2007;14(2):301–305
  47. Koch K, Wagner G, von Consbruch K, Nenadic I, Schultz C, Ehle C, et al. Temporal changes in neural activation during practice of information retrieval from short-term memory: an fMRI study. Brain Res. 2006;1107(1):140–150
  48. Kramer AF, Larish JF, Strayer DL. Training for attentional control in dual task settings: a comparison of young and old adults. J. Exp. Psychol. Appl. 1995;50–76
  49. Kramer AF, Larish JL. Aging and dual-task performance. In:  Rogers WA,  Fisk AD,  Walker N editor. Aging and Skilled Performance. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 1996;p. 83–110
  50. Landau SM, Garavan H, Schumacher EH, D’Esposito M. Regional specificity and practice: dynamic changes in object and spatial working memory. Brain Res. 2007;1180:78–89
  51. Landau SM, Schumacher EH, Garavan H, Druzgal TJ, D’Esposito M. A functional MRI study of the influence of practice on component processes of working memory. Neuroimage. 2004;22(1):211–221
  52. Lustig C, May CP, Hasher L. Working memory span and the role of proactive interference. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 2001;130(2):199–207
  53. McDowd JM, Craik FI. Effects of aging and task difficulty on divided attention performance. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 1988;14(2):267–280
  54. McPartland J, Dawson G, Webb SJ, Panagiotides H, Carver LJ. Event-related brain potentials reveal anomalies in temporal processing of faces in autism spectrum disorder. J. Child Psychol. Psychiatry. 2004;45(7):1235–1245
  55. Miller EK, Erickson CA, Desimone R. Neural mechanisms of visual working memory in prefrontal cortex of the macaque. J. Neurosci. 1996;16(16):5154–5167
  56. Miyake A, Shah P. Models of Working Memory: Mechanisms of Active Maintenance and Executive Control. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1999;
  57. Nakamura A, Yamada T, Abe Y, Nakamura K, Sato N, Horibe K, et al. Age-related changes in brain neuromagnetic responses to face perception in humans. Neurosci. Lett. 2001;312(1):13–16
  58. Park DC, Smith AD, Dudley WN, Lafronza VN. Effects of age and a divided attention task presented during encoding and retrieval on memory. J. Exp. Psychol. Learn. Mem. Cogn. 1989;15(6):1185–1191
  59. Pfefferbaum A, Ford JM, Wenegrat BG, Roth WT, Kopell BS. Clinical application of the P3 component of event-related potentials. I. Normal aging. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 1984;59(2):85–103
  60. Poldrack RA. Imaging brain plasticity: conceptual and methodological issues—a theoretical review. Neuroimage. 2000;12(1):1–13
  61. Ponds RW, Brouwer WH, van Wolffelaar PC. Age differences in divided attention in a simulated driving task. J. Gerontol. 1988;43(6):P151–P156
  62. Reitan R. Validity of the trail making test as an indicator of organic brain damage. Perceptual Motor Skills. 1958;8:271–276
  63. Reuter-Lorenz P, Sylvester C-YC. The cognitive neuroscience of working memory and aging. In:  Cabeza R,  Nyberg L,  Park D editor. Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging. Oxford: University Press; 2005;
  64. Rowe G, Valderrama S, Hasher L, Lenartowicz A. Attentional disregulation: a benefit for implicit memory. Psychol. Aging. 2006;21(4):826–830
  65. Rutman, A.M., Clapp, W.C., Chadick, J.Z., Gazzaley, A., in press. Early top-down control of visual processing predicts working memory performance. J. Cogn. Neurosci.
  66. Sakai K. Reactivation of memory: role of medial temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex. Rev. Neurosci. 2003;14(3):241–252
  67. Sakai K, Passingham RE. Prefrontal selection and medial temporal lobe reactivation in retrieval of short-term verbal information. Cereb. Cortex. 2004;14(8):914–921
  68. Sakai K, Rowe JB, Passingham RE. Active maintenance in prefrontal area 46 creates distractor-resistant memory. Nat. Neurosci. 2002;5(5):479–484
  69. Salthouse TA, Babcock RL, Shaw RJ. Effects of adult age on structural and operational capacities in working memory. Psychol. Aging. 1991;6(1):118–127
  70. Salvucci DD, Taatgen NA. Threaded cognition: an integrated theory of concurrent multitasking. Psychol. Rev. 2008;115(1):101–130
  71. Salvucci, D.D., Taatgen, N.A., Borst, J.P., 2009. Toward a Unified Theory of the Multitasking Continuum: From Concurrent Performance to Task Switching, Interruption, and Resumption Paper Presented at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Boston, MA.
  72. Sreenivasan KK, Goldstein JM, Lustig AG, Rivas LR, Jha AP. Attention to faces modulates early face processing during low but not high face discriminability. Atten. Percept. Psychophys. 2009;71(4):837–846
  73. Sreenivasan KK, Jha AP. Selective attention supports working memory maintenance by modulating perceptual processing of distractors. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 2007;19(1):32–41
  74. Sreenivasan KK, Katz J, Jha AP. Temporal characteristics of top-down modulations during working memory maintenance: an event-related potential study of the N170 component. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 2007;19(11):1836–1844
  75. Stroop JR. Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. J. Exp. Psychol. 1935;18:643–662
  76. Tanaka JW, Curran T. A neural basis for expert object recognition. Psychol. Sci. 2001;12(1):43–47
  77. Taylor MJ, Edmonds GE, McCarthy G, Allison T. Eyes first! Eye processing develops before face processing in children. Neuroreport. 2001;12(8):1671–1676
  78. Tombaugh TN. Trail Making Test A and B: normative data stratified by age and education. Arch. Clin. Neuropsychol. 2004;19(2):203–214
  79. Tsang PS, Shaner TL. Age, attention, expertise, and time-sharing performance. Psychol. Aging. 1998;13(2):323–347
  80. Vidnyanszky Z, Sohn W. Learning to suppress task-irrelevant visual stimuli with attention. Vision Res. 2005;45(6):677–685
  81. Vogel EK, McCollough AW, Machizawa MG. Neural measures reveal individual differences in controlling access to working memory. Nature. 2005;438(7067):500–503
  82. Wechsler D. Wechsler Memory Scale—Revised Manual. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation; 1987;
  83. Yesavage JA, Brink TL, Rose TL, Lum O, Huang V, Adey M, et al. Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: a preliminary report. J. Psychiatr. Res. 1982;17(1):37–49
  84. Yoon JH, Curtis CE, D’Esposito M. Differential effects of distraction during working memory on delay-period activity in the prefrontal cortex and the visual association cortex. Neuroimage. 2006;29(4):1117–1126
  85. Zanto TP, Gazzaley A. Neural suppression of irrelevant information underlies optimal working memory performance. J. Neurosci. 2009;29(10):3059–3066
  86. Zanto TP, Hennigan K, Ostberg M, Clapp WC, Gazzaley A. Predictive knowledge of stimulus relevance does not influence top-down suppression of irrelevant information in older adults. Cortex. 2009;

PII: S0197-4580(10)00042-4

doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2010.01.012

Neurobiology of Aging
Volume 33, Issue 1 , Pages 134-148 , January 2012

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution