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Article

Error-Related Oscillations

Effects of Aging on Neural Systems for Behavioral Monitoring

Published Online:May 10, 2010https://doi.org/10.1027/0269-8803.23.4.216

Abstract

The present study assesses the origins of reduction of error negativity (Ne) with advancing age in humans. Response-related potentials were recorded from young (mean age 22.5 years, n = 10) and older (mean age 58.3 years, n = 11) adults while they performed a four-choice reaction task (4CRT) in two modalities, auditory and visual. Trials from correct and error responses were analyzed separately for each modality. To achieve a reference-free evaluation, the current source density (CSD) of the signals was computed. RRPs were analyzed in the time-frequency (TF) domain by means of wavelet decomposition. Two TF components of RRPs from the delta (1.5–3.5 Hz) and theta (3.5–7 Hz) frequency ranges were assessed. The measured parameters were total power reflecting both the phase-locked and non-phase-locked activity, and phase-locking factor (PLF) reflecting the strength of phase-synchronization with stimulus, independent of magnitude. It was found that the total power of both the delta and theta TF components increased after errors in the two age groups, although this increase was more pronounced in young than older adults. Response-locked synchronization of delta responses also increased after errors, with this synchronizing ability being preserved in older subjects. What differentiated the error processing in the two age groups was the synchronization of theta oscillations with error responses, with this parameter being substantially reduced in older subjects. The results demonstrate that Ne reduction with aging is the result of an overall decrease in the power of delta and theta components, primarily of a decrease in the response-locked synchronization of theta oscillations after errors.

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