The role of task preparation and task inhibition in age-related task-switching deficits.

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 1130-1137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Lawo ◽  
Andrea M. Philipp ◽  
Stefanie Schuch ◽  
Iring Koch
Keyword(s):  
Task Switching ◽  
Task Preparation ◽  
Age Related ◽  
And Task

Age-related differences in task switching and task preparation: Exploring the role of task-set competition

2016 ◽  
Vol 170 ◽  
pp. 66-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Hirsch ◽  
Tina Schwarzkopp ◽  
Mathieu Declerck ◽  
Stefanie Reese ◽  
Iring Koch
Keyword(s):  
Task Switching ◽  
Task Set ◽  
Task Preparation ◽  
Age Related ◽  
And Task

scholarly journals The role of white matter microstructure in age-related deficits in task-switching

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolly Todd ◽  
Michie Pat ◽  
Fulham William ◽  
Cooper Patrick ◽  
Levi Christopher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Task Switching ◽  
Age Related ◽  
White Matter Microstructure

Reconceptualizing mind wandering from a switching perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Sheng Wong ◽  
Adrian R. Willoughby ◽  
Liana Machado
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Task Switching ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Resource Control ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Theories Of Mind ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Older Populations ◽  
And Task

Mind wandering is a universal phenomenon in which our attention shifts away from the task at hand toward task-unrelated thoughts. Despite it inherently involving a shift in mental set, little is known about the role of cognitive flexibility in mind wandering. In this article we consider the potential of cognitive flexibility as a mechanism for mediating and/or regulating the occurrence of mind wandering. Our review begins with a brief introduction to the prominent theories of mind wandering—the executive failure hypothesis, the decoupling hypothesis, the process-occurrence framework, and the resource-control account of sustained attention. Then, after discussing their respective merits and weaknesses, we put forward a new perspective of mind wandering focused on cognitive flexibility, which provides an account more in line with the data to date, including why older populations experience a reduction in mind wandering. After summarizing initial evidence prompting this new perspective, drawn from several mind-wandering and task-switching studies, we recommend avenues for future research aimed at further understanding the importance of cognitive flexibility in mind wandering.

Age Differences in Memory-Based Task Switching With and Without Cues

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 187-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergei A. Schapkin ◽  
Patrick D. Gajewski ◽  
Gabriele Freude
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Task Switching ◽  
Response Selection ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Switch Costs ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Mixing Costs ◽  
And Task

The study investigated the neuronal mechanisms of age-related changes in mixing costs during memory-based task switching with two levels of working memory (WM) load. Forty-eight healthy younger and 45 healthy older participants performed a memory based (high WM load) and a memory plus cue based (low WM load) switching task while event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were registered. Older adults revealed larger mixing costs in both reaction time (RT) and accuracy at higher WM loads than younger adults. The presence of explicit cues substantially reduced age differences in mixing costs for accuracy but not for RT. Similarly, no age differences regarding local switch costs were found at lower WM load. Surprisingly, larger RT local costs in younger adults than in older adults were found in the memory-based block. The CNV was reduced under high WM load and positively correlated with accuracy mixing costs in older adults. The target-locked occipital N1 and fronto-central P2 were larger in older adults relative to younger adults irrespective of WM load. The P2 latency reflected the pattern of switch costs observed in behavioral data. Moreover, P2 latency positively correlated with RT mixing costs in older adults. Elderly also showed a delayed N2 and a delayed and reduced P3b. The results suggest that age-related differences in mixing costs may be partially due to a less efficient task preparation and task set maintenance (CNV) in elderly. However, elderly attempted to compensate for these deficits by permanent activation of mechanisms relating to stimulus encoding (N1) and task-set retrieval (P2). Finally, the delayed fronto-central N2 as well as the delayed and reduced parietal P3b strongly suggest delays of response selection and working memory updating in elderly due to an increase in selection threshold or in response selection variability constituting the performance decline.

scholarly journals Age-Related Changes in Task-Switching Components: The Role of Task Uncertainty

2002 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jutta Kray ◽  
Karen Z.H. Li ◽  
Ulman Lindenberger
Keyword(s):  
Task Switching ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Task Uncertainty ◽  
Age Related Changes

scholarly journals Does White Matter Matter? Spatio-temporal Dynamics of Task Switching in Aging

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1380-1395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriele Gratton ◽  
Emily Wee ◽  
Elena I. Rykhlevskaia ◽  
Echo E. Leaver ◽  
Monica Fabiani
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Task Switching ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Right ◽  
Spatial Condition ◽  
And Task

Older adults often encounter difficulties in switching between tasks, perhaps because of age-related decreases in executive function. Executive function may largely depend on connections between brain areas—connections that may become structurally and functionally weaker in aging. Here we investigated functional and structural age-related changes in switching between a spatial and a verbal task. These tasks were chosen because they are expected to differentially use the two hemispheres. Brain measures included anatomical information about anterior corpus callosum size (CC; the major commissure linking the left and right hemisphere), and the event-related optical signal (EROS). Behavioral results indicated that older adults had greater task-switching difficulties, which, however, were largely restricted to switching to the spatial task and to individuals with smaller anterior CCs. The EROS data showed both general switching-related activity in the left middle frontal gyrus (with approximately 300-msec latency) and task-specific activity in the inferior frontal gyrus, lateralized to the left for the switch-to-verbal condition and to the right for the switch-to-spatial condition. This lateralization was most evident in younger adults. In older adults, activity in the switch-to-spatial condition was lateralized to the right hemisphere in individuals with large CC, and to the left in individuals with small CC. These data suggest that (a) task switching may involve both task-general and task-specific processes; and (b) white matter changes may underlie some of the age-related problems in switching. These effects are discussed in terms of the hypothesis that aging involves some degree of cortical disconnection, both functional and anatomical.

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