Increased Responsiveness to Novelty is Associated with Successful Cognitive Aging

Abstract

Abstract& The animal literature suggests that exposure to more complex, novel environments promotes neurogenesis and cognitive performance in older animals. Studies in humans indicate that participation in intellectually stimulating activities may serve as a buffer against mental decline and help to sustain cognitive abilities. Here, we show that across old adults, increased responsiveness to novel events (as measured by viewing duration and the size of the P3 event-related potential) is strongly linked to better performance on neuropsychological tests, especially those involving attention/executive functions. Cognitively high performing old adults generate a larger P3 response to visual stimuli than cognitively average performing adults. These results suggest that cognitively high performing adults successfully manage the task by appropriating more resources and that the increased size of their P3 component represents a beneficial compensatory mechanism rather than less efficient processing. &

Human experience seeking correlates with hippocampus volume: Convergent evidence from manual tracing and voxel-based morphometry

“…For example, in rodent studies, the influence of novelty on synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus was found to extend several minutes beyond the exploration of novelty, raising the possibility that hippocampus-related memory function might be improved in the context of novelty processing (Li et al, 2003). Similarly, a recent human study reported that cognitively high performing elders spent more time spontaneously viewing novel compared to familiar stimuli than did cognitively average performing elders (Daffner et al, 2006). Future research will be required to explore whether an experience seeking personality may serve as one variable that promotes 'successful' aging through protection of hippocampus and memory function.…”

Compensatory neural activity distinguishes different patterns of normal cognitive aging

“…2) Cognitively high performing old individuals had faster, more accurate responses to targets than cognitively average performing old individuals (Daffner et al, 2006a) and performed comparably to cognitively high performing middle-age and young individuals (Daffner et al, 2007). 3) The P3 latency to targets of cognitively high performing old subjects was shorter than that of cognitively average performing old subjects (Daffner et al, 2006a), and comparable to that of middle-age and young cognitively high performing subjects (Daffner et al, 2006b). 4) Cognitively high performing old subjects generated a larger P3 amplitude to novel stimuli than both cognitively average performing old subjects (Daffner et al, 2006a) and cognitively high performing middle-age and young subjects (Daffner et al, 2006b). …”

“…In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in not only making overall distinctions between 'normal' and diseased aging, but also in understanding the sources of individual differences within the older population (Daffner et al, 2006a;Fabiani et al, 1998;Friedman, 2003). Of particular interest has been elucidating the neural mechanisms that allow some older individuals to perform cognitive tasks at a level comparable to their younger counterparts (Cabeza et al, 2002;Daffner et al, 2006b;Duarte et al, 2006;Stern, 2002).…”

“…Of particular interest has been elucidating the neural mechanisms that allow some older individuals to perform cognitive tasks at a level comparable to their younger counterparts (Cabeza et al, 2002;Daffner et al, 2006b;Duarte et al, 2006;Stern, 2002). In this context, we have published a series of related reports on differences between cognitively average and cognitively high performing adults across the lifespan in their P3 event-related potential and behavioral responses to novel and target events (Daffner et al, 2005;Daffner et al, 2006b;Daffner et al, 2006a;Daffner et al, 2007). Our emphasis has been on novelty processing because of the notion that increased responsiveness to novelty may not only be a reflection of successful cognitive aging, but also helps to promote it (Daffner et al, 2006a;Wilson et al, 2002).…”

“…In this context, we have published a series of related reports on differences between cognitively average and cognitively high performing adults across the lifespan in their P3 event-related potential and behavioral responses to novel and target events (Daffner et al, 2005;Daffner et al, 2006b;Daffner et al, 2006a;Daffner et al, 2007). Our emphasis has been on novelty processing because of the notion that increased responsiveness to novelty may not only be a reflection of successful cognitive aging, but also helps to promote it (Daffner et al, 2006a;Wilson et al, 2002). We have focused on the P3 component because its amplitude is likely to reflect (or be very sensitive to) the amount of processing resources allocated to reorienting attention, updating working memory, or categorizing an event (Daffner et al, 1998;Donchin and Coles, 1988;Escera et al, 1998;Isreal et al, 1980;Kok, 2001;Sirevaag et al, 1989).…”