It is, by now, axiomatic, that older adult subjects demonstrate deficits, relative to young adults, on episodic or explicit test of memory, such as~ free recall, cued recall, and recognition, tests which require the conscious access to previously experienced events. However, the causes of these episodic memory deficits remain largely unknown. This revised proposal's major aim, therefore, is to test the hypothesis that alterations in executive, or cognitive control processes presumably mediated by the prefrontal cortex, can explain at least some of the older adults'decline in memory function ERP, EEG, and behavioral data will be obtained from young (20-30), young/old (60-70) and old/old (71-85) adults during series of episodic memory tasks and independent assessments of executive processing. The recruitment of 2 older age groups will enable the determination of continuity and/or discontinuity in memory function and underlying neurophysiology during the older adult years. The first two experiments are aimed at determining whether the older adults'encoding difficulties are due to a deficit in semantic retrieval per Se, or to a deficient cognitive control mechanism that enables the selection of semantic attributes from competing alternatives. The third experiment assesses the effect of resource allocation on age-related changes in episodic encoding. The fourth experiment tests the hypothesis that the older aduIts'source memory deficiencies may be due to a decline in encoding and retrieving """"""""bound"""""""" information. The final memory task assesses the effect of inhibitory control on episodic memory performance and whether knowledge of source information can overcome the older adult's difficulty in inhibiting the retrieval of no longer relevant mnemonic information The independent executive tasks, which will be administered to all subjects, assess the older adults'working memory span, ability to task switch, and verbal and category fluency, all quintessential, prefrontally-based cognitive contrc mechanisms. ERPs will be recorded from 62 scalp sites to enable good spatial resolution for current source density, and EEG coherence analyses. The latter will enable a better understanding of the possible age-related alterations in the neural networks underpinning episodic memory performance. The data will be relevant to age-related changes ii cognitive control mechanisms, prefrontal functioning, and episodic memory, and their physiological underpinnings.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
3R01AG005213-19S1
Application #
7787833
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BDCN-6 (01))
Program Officer
Wagster, Molly V
Project Start
1986-05-01
Project End
2009-04-30
Budget Start
2009-04-01
Budget End
2009-04-30
Support Year
19
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$47,501
Indirect Cost
Name
New York State Psychiatric Institute
Department
Type
DUNS #
167204994
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10032
Xu, Judy; Friedman, David; Metcalfe, Janet (2018) Attenuation of deep semantic processing during mind wandering: an event-related potential study. Neuroreport 29:380-384
Metcalfe, Janet; Casal-Roscum, Lindsey; Radin, Arielle et al. (2015) On Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks. Psychol Sci 26:1833-42
Yi, Yuji; Friedman, David (2014) Age-related differences in working memory: ERPs reveal age-related delays in selection- and inhibition-related processes. Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn 21:483-513
Johnson Jr, Ray; Nessler, Doreen; Friedman, David (2013) Temporally specific divided attention tasks in young adults reveal the temporal dynamics of episodic encoding failures in elderly adults. Psychol Aging 28:443-56
Nessler, Doreen; Friedman, David; Johnson Jr, Ray (2012) A new account of the effect of probability on task switching: ERP evidence following the manipulation of switch probability, cue informativeness and predictability. Biol Psychol 91:245-62
Yi, Yuji; Friedman, David (2011) Event-related potential (ERP) measures reveal the timing of memory selection processes and proactive interference resolution in working memory. Brain Res 1411:41-56
Friedman, David; Nessler, Doreen; Kulik, Julianna et al. (2011) The brain's orienting response (novelty P3) in patients with unilateral temporal lobe resections. Neuropsychologia 49:3474-83
Manzi, Alberto; Nessler, Doreen; Czernochowski, Daniela et al. (2011) The development of anticipatory cognitive control processes in task-switching: an ERP study in children, adolescents, and young adults. Psychophysiology 48:1258-75
Friedman, David; de Chastelaine, Marianne; Nessler, Doreen et al. (2010) Changes in familiarity and recollection across the lifespan: an ERP perspective. Brain Res 1310:124-41
Czernochowski, Daniela; Nessler, Doreen; Friedman, David (2010) On why not to rush older adults--relying on reactive cognitive control can effectively reduce errors at the expense of slowed responses. Psychophysiology 47:637-46

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