The effects of aging on visuospatial attention were investigated with event-related brain potentials (ERPs). A central arrow
pointed towards (75% valid cues) or away from (25% invalid cues) the location of upcoming visual targets to which subjects made
two choice discriminations. Young and older adults responded faster following valid than invalid cues. The absolute magnitude
of the cueing effect was larger for older than young subjects, but cueing effects were similar between groups when estimated
proportionally to overall response time. Under the present conditions, the electrophysiological manifestations of visuospatial
attention were similar for young and older adults. Early ERP components following the target stimulus (P1, N1, Nd1) were slower
for older than young subjects, but amplitude was similarly affected by cueing in each group. The temporal correspondence
between component latencies and the observed cueing effects are consistent with theories positing that attention amplifies the
sensory gain of early perceptual processes. The observation that aging slowed latency of the ipsilateral but not the contralateral
P1, is consistent with age differences in interhemispheric transfer times. A broadly distributed 200 – 400 ms validity effect on ERP
amplitude was similar between groups in timing, spatial distribution, and magnitude. The 200 – 400 ms attention effect appeared
to be a modulation of the P3 in younger subjects, as earlier observed. However, the present study dissociated the 200–400 ms
attention effects from the P3 component because the P3 did not peak until 526 ms in older subjects. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd.
All rights reserved.
Event-related potentials; Evoked potentials; Slowing; Vision; Interhemispheric transfer
Effects of aging on visuospatial attention: an ERP study
Tim Curran
a,
*, Alex Hills
a
, Marian B. Patterson
a,b,c,d
, Milton E. Strauss
a,b
a
Department of Psychology, Case Western Resere Uniersity, Cleeland, OH, 44106 -7123, USA
b
Alzheimer Center of Uniersity Hospitals and Case Western Resere Uniersity, Cleeland, OH, 44120, USA
c
Department of Neurology, Case Western Resere Uniersity, Cleeland, OH, 44106 -5000, USA
d
Department of Psychiatry, Case Western Resere Uniersity, Cleeland, OH, 44106 -5080, USA
Received 7 April 2000; received in revised form 3 May 2000; accepted 27 July 2000
Abstract
Keywords:
www.elsevier.com/locate/neuropsychologia
1. Introduction
Neuropsychologia 39 (2001) 288 – 301
Our visual environment often confronts us with more
information than our brain can fully process. Visual
attention enables us to preferentially process information
from a selected location or object (reviewed in [49,50]).
Behavioral research has investigated the effects of adult
aging on visuospatial attention, but the results have been
somewhat mixed. Research with young subjects has
shown that event-related brain potentials (ERPs) can
provide useful information about visuospatial attention
processes (reviewed in [18,43]). In the present research,
we used ERP measures to further our understanding of
how aging impacts visuospatial attention.
Posner and colleagues developed a simple task for
studying visuospatial attention [54,56]. Each trial begins
with the presentation of a cue that directs attention
towards the possible location of an upcoming periph-
eral target. Valid cues direct attention to the correct
target location whereas invalid cues direct attention to
an incorrect location. Faster response times (RTs) to
targets following valid than invalid cues (‘cue validity
effects’) are considered indicative of attentional pro-
cesses. The attentional processes are typically consid-
ered ‘covert’ because subjects are told to avoid eye
movements and maintain a central visual focus through
the cue and target periods. Cue validity effects vary
with the duration between cue and target onsets (stimu-
lus onset asynchrony, SOA) and the nature of the cue
(e.g. [35,46,55,68]). Spatially informative peripheral
cues at potential target locations are thought to engage
involuntary, automatic, exogenous attention processes.
* Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Psychol-
ogy, University of Colorado, Campus Box 345, Boulder, CO, 80309-
0345, USA. Tel.: +1-303-4925040; fax: +1-303-4922967.
E-mail address: curran@psych.colorado.edu (T. Curran).
0000-0000/01/$ - see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII:S0028-3932(00)00112-3