Age differences in inhibition of return and inhibitory tagging during spatial orienting of attention

Abstract

Evidence suggests that two separate inhibitory processes are involved in attentional orienting, location-based inhibition of return (IOR) and stimulus-based inhibitory tagging (a secondary process initiated by IOR). In a follow-up study to Langley, Vivas, Fuentes, and Bagne (2005), we provide further evidence that aging has a greater effect on inhibitory tagging than IOR. In Experiment 1 we combined an IOR task with a Stroop paradigm. Typical IOR effects were found for both younger adults (mean age = 21 years) and older adults (mean age = 68 years), but younger adults' Stroop effects were reduced at inhibited locations, consistent with inhibitory tagging. Older adults' Stroop effects were unaffected by location. Time course analysis indicated that tagging effects were not simply slower to develop in older adults, but did not develop at all. In Experiment 2 the age pattern in IOR and inhibitory tagging was extended to a semantic priming paradigm. Together the findings suggest that older adults' attention performance reflects an intact ability to inhibit return of attention to examined locations but an impaired ability to inhibit responses to stimuli presented at those locations.

Footnotes

 This research was supported by Grant P20 RR020151 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).