[en] The executive processes are well known to decline with age, and
similar data also exists for attentional capacities and processing
speed. Therefore, we investigated whether these two last nonexecutive
variables would mediate the effect of age on executive functions
(inhibition, shifting, updating, and dual-task coordination). We administered
a large battery of executive, attentional and processing speed
tasks to 104 young and 71 older people, and we performed mediation
analyses with variables showing a significant age effect. All executive
and processing speed measures showed age-related effects while only
the visual scanning task performance (selective attention) was
explained by age when controlled for gender and educational level.
Regarding mediation analyses, visual scanning partially mediated the
age effect on updating while processing speed partially mediated the
age effect on shifting, updating and dual-task coordination. In a more
exploratory way, inhibition was also found to partially mediate the
effect of age on the three other executive functions. Attention did not
greatly influence executive functioning in aging while, in agreement
with the literature, processing speed seems to be a major mediator of
the age effect on these processes. Interestingly, the global pattern of
results seems also to indicate an influence of inhibition but further
studies are needed to confirm the role of that variable as a mediator
and its relative importance by comparison with processing speed.
Research Center/Unit :
GIGA-CRC in Vivo Imaging
Disciplines :
Neurosciences & behavior
Author, co-author :
Gilsoul, Jessica ✱; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie > GIGA-CRC in Vivo Imaging
Simon, Jessica ✱; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie > Psychologie quantitative
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