AUTHOR=Correa-Jaraba Kenia S. , Cid-Fernández Susana , Lindín Mónica , Díaz Fernando TITLE=Involuntary Capture and Voluntary Reorienting of Attention Decline in Middle-Aged and Old Participants JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience VOLUME=10 YEAR=2016 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00129 DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2016.00129 ISSN=1662-5161 ABSTRACT=
The main aim of this study was to examine the effects of aging on event-related brain potentials (ERPs) associated with the automatic detection of unattended infrequent deviant and novel auditory stimuli (Mismatch Negativity, MMN) and with the orienting to these stimuli (P3a component), as well as the effects on ERPs associated with reorienting to relevant visual stimuli (Reorienting Negativity, RON). Participants were divided into three age groups: (1) Young: 21–29 years old; (2) Middle-aged: 51–64 years old; and (3) Old: 65–84 years old. They performed an auditory-visual distraction-attention task in which they were asked to attend to visual stimuli (Go, NoGo) and to ignore auditory stimuli (S: standard, D: deviant, N: novel). Reaction times (RTs) to Go visual stimuli were longer in old and middle-aged than in young participants. In addition, in all three age groups, longer RTs were found when Go visual stimuli were preceded by novel relative to deviant and standard auditory stimuli, indicating a distraction effect provoked by novel stimuli. ERP components were identified in the Novel