Event-related potentials reveal increased distraction by salient global objects in older adults

Iris Wiegand, Kathrin Finke, Thomas Töllner, Hermann J. Müller, Markus Conci

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Abstract

Age-related changes in visual functions influence how older individuals perceive and react upon objects in their environment. In particular, older individuals might be more distracted by highly salient, irrelevant information. Kanizsa figures induce a ‘global precedence’ effect, which reflects a processing advantage for salient whole-object representations relative to configurations of local elements not inducing a global form. We investigated event-related potential (ERP) correlates of age-related decline in visual abilities, and specifically, distractibility by salient global objects in visual search. Older participants detected target stimuli slower and less accurate than younger participants did. ERPs indicated that the general performance decline originated at multiple stages within the information-processing stream, from sensory coding to spatial allocation of attention: The P1 was decreased, the N1 was enhanced, and the posterior contralateral negativity (PCN) was decreased and delayed in older age. We further found a stronger a global precedence effect in the older group. This was associated with age differences in short-latency ERPs: The younger group showed a more pronounced P1 in global than local search, in the older group, the P1 did not vary with search conditions. In addition, only older participants obtained a contralateral lateralization in the N1 time range towards the salient Kanizsa distracter in local search. These results suggest that the age-specific increase in global-local asymmetries originates from early processing stages, where the dissociation of hierarchical levels is less distinct, and inhibition of the salient irrelevant global object information is less effective
OriginalsprogEngelsk
Publikationsdatomaj 2014
StatusUdgivet - maj 2014
BegivenhedMeeting of the European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 2014 - Dortmund, Tyskland
Varighed: 7 maj 201410 maj 2014

Konference

KonferenceMeeting of the European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 2014
Land/OmrådeTyskland
ByDortmund
Periode07/05/201410/05/2014

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