Staying on Task: Age-Related Changes in the Relationship Between Executive Functioning and Response Time Consistency

Little is known about the relationship of executive functioning with age-related increases in response time (RT) distribution indices (intraindividual standard deviation [ISD], and ex-Gaussian parameters mu, sigma, tau). The goals of this study were to (a) replicate findings of age-related changes i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2016-03, Vol.71 (2), p.189-200
Main Authors: Vasquez, Brandon P, Binns, Malcolm A, Anderson, Nicole D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adults
Age differences
Age Factors
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Deviation
Executive function
Executive Function - physiology
Female
Geriatric Assessment
Humans
Inconsistency
Male
Neuropsychological tests
Neuropsychology
Older people
Parameters
Reaction Time - physiology
Response time
Very old
Young Adult
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Summary:Little is known about the relationship of executive functioning with age-related increases in response time (RT) distribution indices (intraindividual standard deviation [ISD], and ex-Gaussian parameters mu, sigma, tau). The goals of this study were to (a) replicate findings of age-related changes in response time distribution indices during an engaging touch-screen RT task and (b) investigate age-related changes in the relationship between executive functioning and RT distribution indices. Healthy adults (24 young [aged 18-30], 24 young-old [aged 65-74], and 24 old-old [aged 75-85]) completed a touch-screen attention task and a battery of neuropsychological tests. The relationships between RT performance and executive functions were examined with structural equation modeling (SEM). ISD, mu, and tau, but not sigma, increased with age. SEM revealed tau as the most salient RT index associated with neuropsychological measures of executive functioning. Further analysis demonstrated that correlations between tau and a weighted executive function composite were significant only in the old-old group. Our results replicate findings of greater RT inconsistency in older adults and reveal that executive functioning is related to tau in adults aged 75-85. These results support literature identifying tau as a marker of cognitive control, which deteriorates in old age.
ISSN:1079-5014
1758-5368
DOI:10.1093/geronb/gbu140