Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Dahl, Martin J.
• Ilg, Liesa
• Li, Shu-Chen
• Passow, Susanne
• Werkle-Bergner, Markus

Titel

Diminished pre-stimulus alpha-lateralization suggests compromised self-initiated attentional control of auditory processing in old age

Ist Teil von

• NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.), 2019-08, Vol.197, p.414-424

Ort / Verlag

United States: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2019

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Older adults experience difficulties in daily situations that require flexible information selection in the presence of multiple competing sensory inputs, like for instance multi-talker situations. Modulations of rhythmic neural activity in the alpha–beta (8–30 Hz) frequency range in posterior brain areas have been established as a cross-modal neural correlate of selective attention. However, research linking compromised auditory selective attention to changes in rhythmic neural activity in aging is sparse. We tested younger (n = 25; 22–35 years) and older adults (n = 26; 63–76 years) in an attention modulated dichotic listening task. In this, two streams of highly similar auditory input were simultaneously presented to participants’ both ears (i.e., dichotically) while attention had to be focused on the input to only one ear (i.e. target) and the other, distracting information had to be ignored. We here demonstrate a link between severely compromised auditory selective attention in aging and a partial reorganization of attention-related rhythmic neural responses. In particular, in old age we observed a shift from a self-initiated, preparatory modulation of lateralized alpha rhythmic activity to an externally driven response in the alpha–beta range. Critically, moment-to-moment fluctuations in the age-specific patterns of self-initiated and externally driven lateralized rhythmic activity were associated with behavioral performance. We conclude that adult age differences in spatial selective attention likely derive from a functional reorganization of rhythmic neural activity within the aging brain. •The ability to filter relevant from irrelevant information is diminished in aging.•Modulations of alpha–beta (8–30 Hz) oscillatory power underpin selective attention.•Younger adults prepare for upcoming relevant stimuli by modulating alpha activity.•Older adults modulate alpha–beta activity only after stimulus presentation.•Single trial performance can be predicted from alpha–beta oscillatory activity.•Age differences in attention may stem from a reorganization of oscillatory activity.