Alpha Brain Oscillations and Inhibitory Control A Partially Preserved Mechanismin Healthy Aging?

作者：Schmiedt Fehr Christina^*; Mathes Birgit; Basar Eroglu Canan

来源：Journal of Psychophysiology, 2009, 23(4): 208-215.

DOI：10.1027/0269-8803.23.4.208

• aging
• VEP
• stimulus-response processing
• Go/NoGo
• alpha oscillations

A major challenge for developmental cognitive neuroscience is to understand how changes in cognitive functions related to aging are associated with changes in the neuronal information processing architecture. Previous studies on EEG event-related brain oscillations suggest functional changes in alpha-bands with age during sensory and memory tasks. Specifically, the topographical distribution of both single-trial lower and upper alpha magnitude and the corresponding phase coherence is altered in elderly persons. Thus, alpha oscillations, associated not only with sensory, but also with sensorimotor functions, may be altered with age. Compensatory mechanisms, possibly reflected in increased frontal alpha synchronization, may thereby be of profound relevance. The present study investigates age-related differences in the modulation of alpha oscillatory activity related to sensory and sensorimotor functions, including response preparation, execution, and inhibition. EEG was recorded while 10 young and 10 elderly persons performed a visual evoked potential (VEP), a cued stimulus response (S-R), and a cued visual Go/NoGo task. Early event-related synchronization (ERS, 0-250ms) and late event-related desynchronization (ERD, 200-600ms) of single-trial lower and upper alpha was analyzed using poststimulus amplitude enhancement and intertrial phase coherence measures. The results show comparable modulations of lower (8-10 Hz) and upper (10-15 Hz) alpha activity in young and elderly related to the sensory and different forms of motor response processing. Specifically, reduced early lower alpha ERS as well as late upper alpha ERD at central locations characterized response inhibition processing in both age groups. We discuss the counterintuitive hypothesis that reduced efficacy of some basal neural inhibitory mechanisms enables older observers to perform better than or comparable to younger observers on some visual tasks, and conclude that alterations in alpha oscillatory networks with age may depend on the stimuli applied.

• 出版日期2009