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Lacking Pace but Not Precision: Age-Related Information Processing Changes in Response to a Dynamic Attentional Control Task

Age-related decline in information processing can have a substantial impact on activities such as driving. However, the assessment of these changes is often carried out using cognitive tasks that do not adequately represent the dynamic process of updating environmental stimuli. Equally, traditional...

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Autores principales: Torrens-Burton, Anna, Hanley, Claire J., Wood, Rodger, Basoudan, Nasreen, Norris, Jade Eloise, Richards, Emma, Tales, Andrea
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7349744/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32575518
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10060390
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author Torrens-Burton, Anna
Hanley, Claire J.
Wood, Rodger
Basoudan, Nasreen
Norris, Jade Eloise
Richards, Emma
Tales, Andrea
author_facet Torrens-Burton, Anna
Hanley, Claire J.
Wood, Rodger
Basoudan, Nasreen
Norris, Jade Eloise
Richards, Emma
Tales, Andrea
author_sort Torrens-Burton, Anna
collection PubMed
description Age-related decline in information processing can have a substantial impact on activities such as driving. However, the assessment of these changes is often carried out using cognitive tasks that do not adequately represent the dynamic process of updating environmental stimuli. Equally, traditional tests are often static in their approach to task complexity, and do not assess difficulty within the bounds of an individual’s capability. To address these limitations, we used a more ecologically valid measure, the Swansea Test of Attentional Control (STAC), in which a threshold for information processing speed is established at a given level of accuracy. We aimed to delineate how older, compared to younger, adults varied in their performance of the task, while also assessing relationships between the task outcome and gender, general cognition (MoCA), perceived memory function (MFQ), cognitive reserve (NART), and aspects of mood (PHQ-9, GAD-7). The results indicate that older adults were significantly slower than younger adults but no less precise, irrespective of gender. Age was negatively correlated with the speed of task performance. Our measure of general cognition was positively correlated with the task speed threshold but not with age per se. Perceived memory function, cognitive reserve, and mood were not related to task performance. The findings indicate that while attentional control is less efficient in older adulthood, age alone is not a defining factor in relation to accuracy. In a real-life context, general cognitive function, in conjunction with dynamic measures such as STAC, may represent a far more effective strategy for assessing the complex executive functions underlying driving ability.
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spelling pubmed-73497442020-07-15 Lacking Pace but Not Precision: Age-Related Information Processing Changes in Response to a Dynamic Attentional Control Task Torrens-Burton, Anna Hanley, Claire J. Wood, Rodger Basoudan, Nasreen Norris, Jade Eloise Richards, Emma Tales, Andrea Brain Sci Article Age-related decline in information processing can have a substantial impact on activities such as driving. However, the assessment of these changes is often carried out using cognitive tasks that do not adequately represent the dynamic process of updating environmental stimuli. Equally, traditional tests are often static in their approach to task complexity, and do not assess difficulty within the bounds of an individual’s capability. To address these limitations, we used a more ecologically valid measure, the Swansea Test of Attentional Control (STAC), in which a threshold for information processing speed is established at a given level of accuracy. We aimed to delineate how older, compared to younger, adults varied in their performance of the task, while also assessing relationships between the task outcome and gender, general cognition (MoCA), perceived memory function (MFQ), cognitive reserve (NART), and aspects of mood (PHQ-9, GAD-7). The results indicate that older adults were significantly slower than younger adults but no less precise, irrespective of gender. Age was negatively correlated with the speed of task performance. Our measure of general cognition was positively correlated with the task speed threshold but not with age per se. Perceived memory function, cognitive reserve, and mood were not related to task performance. The findings indicate that while attentional control is less efficient in older adulthood, age alone is not a defining factor in relation to accuracy. In a real-life context, general cognitive function, in conjunction with dynamic measures such as STAC, may represent a far more effective strategy for assessing the complex executive functions underlying driving ability. MDPI 2020-06-19 /pmc/articles/PMC7349744/ /pubmed/32575518 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10060390 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Torrens-Burton, Anna
Hanley, Claire J.
Wood, Rodger
Basoudan, Nasreen
Norris, Jade Eloise
Richards, Emma
Tales, Andrea
Lacking Pace but Not Precision: Age-Related Information Processing Changes in Response to a Dynamic Attentional Control Task
title Lacking Pace but Not Precision: Age-Related Information Processing Changes in Response to a Dynamic Attentional Control Task
title_full Lacking Pace but Not Precision: Age-Related Information Processing Changes in Response to a Dynamic Attentional Control Task
title_fullStr Lacking Pace but Not Precision: Age-Related Information Processing Changes in Response to a Dynamic Attentional Control Task
title_full_unstemmed Lacking Pace but Not Precision: Age-Related Information Processing Changes in Response to a Dynamic Attentional Control Task
title_short Lacking Pace but Not Precision: Age-Related Information Processing Changes in Response to a Dynamic Attentional Control Task
title_sort lacking pace but not precision: age-related information processing changes in response to a dynamic attentional control task
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7349744/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32575518
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10060390
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