Does the age-related “anterior shift” of the P3 reflect an inability to habituate the novelty response?

Abstract

Old adults often generate larger anterior neural responses than young adults when carrying out task requirements. A common finding in the ERP literature is an "anterior shift" of the P3b to targets. Utilizing principal component analysis (PCA), we recently demonstrated that rather than the P3b moving anteriorly, old adults generate a large P3a that temporally overlaps with their P3b. A dominant hypothesis for the age-related increase in anterior P3 is the failure to habituate the brain’s novelty response to rare targets. We tested this hypothesis in young and old adults by comparing the amplitude of the PCA factor representing P3a to targets presented in the first versus last of eight blocks of a visual oddball task. If, unlike young adults, old adults are unable to habituate a novelty response, one would expect 1) the P3a amplitude to decrease between the first and last blocks for young, but not old subjects and 2) the difference in P3a amplitude between young and old subjects to be greater in the last than the first block. Our results indicate the amplitude of the P3a was larger in old adults than young adults. However, this effect was not modulated by block. These findings argue against the hypothesis that an age-related increase in the P3a to targets reflects an inability of old subjects to habituate a novelty response. An alternative hypothesis is that the augmented P3a indexes the increased utilization of frontal executive functions to provide compensatory scaffolding to carry out a task.

Auditory perception in the aging brain: the role of inhibition and facilitation in early processing

“…These findings complement previous studies showing increases in the P3a in older adults (e.g., Alperin et al., 2014, Daffner et al., 2015) and provide further support for the idea that older adults find it harder to ignore task-irrelevant information; a fundamental element of the IDH.…”

“…The P3a response is typically reduced or delayed in healthy aging, suggesting a reduced attentional orientation response in older adults (Czigler et al., 2006, Fabiani and Friedman, 1995; see Friedman, 2008 for a review; Knight, 1987, Walhovd and Fjell, 2001). However, there is evidence that the P3a habituates in younger adults, but not in older adults, suggesting that attentional capture by rare or novel stimuli may be greater in aging (Alperin et al., 2014, Friedman et al., 1998). …”

Investigating age-related changes in anterior and posterior neural activity throughout the information processing stream

“…Temporospatial PCA takes advantage of this method's ability to parse components both temporally and spatially by breaking down each temporal principal component into a series of spatially distinct components. In our previous work using PCA, we found that during the temporal interval of the P3a (400–600 ms), older individuals generated a larger response that was interpreted as reflecting increased utilization of anterior neural resources (Alperin, Mott, Holcomb, & Daffner, 2014a; Alperin et al, 2014b). Here, our approach using PCA was broadened to identify distinct anterior and posterior components in addition to the P3, and determine whether they exhibit age-associated differences in amplitude.…”

Event-related potential correlates of mindfulness meditation competence

“…Given the age of our sample ( M age = 49 years), it is worth noting that P3a and P3b tend to overlap as age increases (Alperin et al, 2014) and that general P3 anteriorization occurs as age increases (Kopp et al, 2014; Oken & Kaye 1992). …”