“…Consistent with its role in marking motivational salience, the amplitude of the anterior P2 component has been shown to be sensitive to features specified by instructions as task relevant (Luck & Hillyard, 1994; Potts & Tucker, 2001). There also are reports that stimuli that are perceptually novel (e.g., highly unusual figures and shapes) elicit a large anterior P2, especially in older adults (Beck, Swanson, & Dustman, 1980; Riis et al, 2009; Riis et al, 2008; Snyder & Hillyard, 1979). One hypothesis to account for the age-related increase in the anterior P2 to novel stimuli is that it represents the inability of older adults to inhibit the allocation of resources to non-target stimuli that should not be considered motivationally salient (Alain & Woods, 1999; Amenedo & Diaz, 1998; Gazzaley, Cooney, Rissman, & D'Esposito, 2005; Rabbitt, 1965).…”