A cross-sectional study on interference control: age affects reactive control but not proactive control

PeerJ

article

Yanfang Peng¹  Qin Zhu³  Biye Wang⁴  Jie Ren⁵ 

[1] School of Physical Education and Sport Training, Shanghai University of Sport;School of Sport Science, Wenzhou Medical University;Division of Kinesiology and Health, University of Wyoming;School of Sport Science, Yangzhou University;China Table Tennis College, Shanghai University of Sport

关键词: Interference control;    Aging;    Reactive control;    Proactive control;    1-Back;    Middle age;    Sequence pattern;    Working memory updating;    After adult;    Cross-sectional study;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.8365

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Background Working memory updating (WMU), a controlled process to continuously adapt to the changing task demand and environment, is crucial for cognitive executive function. Although previous studies have shown that the elderly were more susceptible to cognitive interference than the youngsters, the picture of age-related deterioration of WMU is incomplete due to lack of study on people at their middle ages. Thus, the present study investigated the impact of age on the WMU among adults by a cross-sectional design to verify whether inefficiency interference control accounts for the aging of WMU. Methods In total, 112 healthy adults were recruited for this study; 28 old adults (21 female) ranging from 60 to 78 years of age; 28 middle-age adults (25 female) ranging from 45 to 59 years of age; 28 adults (11 female) ranging from 26 to 44 years of age; and 28 young adults (26 female) ranging from 18 to 25 years of age. Each participant completed a 1-back task. The inverse efficiency score was calculated in various sequences of three trials in a row to quantify the performance of WMU for adults of various ages. Results Inverse efficiency score of both young groups (young adult and adult) were significantly shorter than the old group in both Repeat-Alternate (RA, including □□○ and ○○□) and Alternate-Alternate (AA, including ○□○ and □○□) sequential patterns and they were additionally better than the middle-age group in AA sequential pattern. Conclusion With the increase of difficulty in the task, the difference in reactive interference control between young and middle age was gradually revealed, while the difference between young and old remained to apparent. The degradation of WMU aging may begin from middle-age and presents selective impairment in that only reactive interference control, but not proactive interference control, shows pronounced age-related decline. The preliminary results can inform future studies to further explore the whole lifespan trajectories of cognitive functions.

【 授权许可】

CC BY