Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health
Older Brains of Senior Citizens Make Good Use of
‘Useless’ Information in Decision-Making
Older adults show 30% advantage over younger adults;
may be the wiser decision-makers because they pick up so much more
information
Jan. 26, 2010 - The aged brain of a senior citizen
has a weakened ability to filter out irrelevant information, which
sounds like bad news for older people. A new study, however, suggests
this may actually give the older folks a memory advantage over younger
people.
A long line of research has shown that aging is
associated with a decreased ability to tune out irrelevant information.
Now scientists at Toronto Baycrest’s world-renowned Rotman Research
Institute have demonstrated that when older adults “hyper-encode”
extraneous information – and they typically do this without even knowing
they’re doing it – they have the unique ability to “hyper-bind” the
information - essentially tie it to other information that is appearing
at the same time.
The study, which appears online this week in the
journal Psychological Science, was led by Karen Campbell, a PhD
student in psychology at the University of Toronto, with supervision
from Rotman senior scientist Dr. Lynn Hasher, a leading authority in
attention and inhibitory functioning in younger and older adults.
“We found that older brains are not only less
likely to suppress irrelevant information than younger brains, but they
can link the relevant and irrelevant pieces of information together and
implicitly transfer this knowledge to subsequent memory tasks,” said
Campbell.
In the study, 24 younger adults (17 – 29 years) and
24 older adults (60 – 73 years) participated in two computer-based
memory tasks that were separated by a 10-minute break.
In the first task, they were shown a series of
pictures that were overlapped by irrelevant words (e.g. picture of a
bird and the word “jump”). They were told to ignore the words and
concentrate on the pictures only. Every time they saw the same picture
twice in a row, they were to press the space bar.
After completing this task and following a
10-minute break, they were tested on a “paired memory task” which
essentially challenged them to recall how the pictures and words were
paired together from the first task.
They were shown three kinds of paired pictures –
preserved pairs (pictures with overlap words that they saw in the first
task), disrupted pairs (pictures they saw in the first task but with
different overlap words) and new pairs (new pictures and new words they
hadn’t seen before).
The older adults showed a 30% advantage over
younger adults in their memory for the preserved pairs (the irrelevant
words that went with the pictures in the first task) relative to the new
pairs.
“This could be a silver lining to aging and
distraction,” said Dr. Hasher, senior scientist on the study.
“Older adults with reduced attentional regulation
seem to display greater knowledge of seemingly extraneous co-occurrences
in the environment than younger adults. As this type of knowledge is
thought to play a critical role in real world decision- making, older
adults may be the wiser decision-makers compared to younger adults
because they have picked up so much more information.”
The study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of
Health Research and the U.S. National Institute on Aging. In addition to
Campbell and Dr. Hasher, the research team included graduate student
Ruthann Thomas, now at Washington University.
About Baycrest
Located in Toronto,
Baycrest says it is one of the world's premier academic health sciences
centers focused on aging. Through its strengths in research and
education, Baycrest is using the power of inquiry and discovery to
improve the health of tomorrow's elderly while at the same time care for
and enhance the quality of life of the elderly today.
Baycrest provides
care and service to approximately 2,500 people a day through the
Baycrest Geriatric Health Care System which includes a unique continuum
of care from wellness programs residential housing and outpatient
clinics, to a 472-bed nursing home, and a 300- bed complex continuing
care hospital facility with an acute care unit.
Our Research Centre
for Aging and the Brain includes the acclaimed Rotman Research
Institute, considered one of the top five brain institutes in the world
and the Kunin-Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit (KLARU) which conducts
research alongside our clinicians and applies the results directly to
client care. Together the Rotman and KLARU are giving the world a whole
new understanding -- and new hope -- about interventions and
preventions, that could transform aging.
Through our Centre
for Education on Aging we are sharing our expertise and knowledge
locally, nationally and internationally. Baycrest believes that it not
only has the ability to use its knowledge to help people around the
world deal with diseases of aging, such as Alzheimer's, stroke,
depression -- but the responsibility. Whether it is through our
international telehealth program, on-line programming, conferences or
through other mediums, we share our knowledge with professionals, other
health care organizations and the public.
Fully affiliated
with the University of Toronto, Baycrest is playing a unique and
important role in training and enlightening future professionals who
will have the responsibility of caring for our aging population. We also
have linkages, partnerships and appointments at other academic centres
across the country, continent and beyond.
Baycrest Foundation
With the generous support of individuals, families, businesses and
foundations, who share our vision of transforming aging, Baycrest
Foundation provides Baycrest with the funding it needs to care for the
elderly of today, and the growing population of tomorrow. Find out more
about the
Baycrest Foundation >
