A comprehensive study of cognitive control in healthy aging

TL;DR

This study shows that not all aspects of cognitive control decline with age, with some functions improving or staying the same in older adults.

Contribution

The study provides a comprehensive assessment of multiple cognitive control subcomponents in a large sample of older and young adults.

Findings

Response inhibition and interference control improve with age.

Updating and shifting decline with age, while proactive control remains stable.

Different cognitive control subcomponents show distinct age-related changes.

Abstract

Declines in cognitive control impact older adults’ daily life and independence. Cognitive control frameworks distinguish different subcomponents, such as inhibition, updating, shifting, proactive and reactive control. A comprehensive overview of how these subcomponents develop in aging is lacking, with research typically focusing on small samples treated as a homogenous age group, targeting a single subcomponent, or using heterogenous tasks across studies. The aim of the current study was therefore to provide a more comprehensive overview of cognitive control in aging, studying multiple subcomponents in a large sample including different age cohorts.

In the current study, young adults (N = 75) and three cohorts of older adults (N = 231) completed an extensive test battery assessing multiple subcomponents of cognitive control, including response inhibition, interference control, updating, shifting, and reactive and proactive control. Linear mixed models and generalized linear mixed models were used to compare cognitive control performance between the age groups.

Our results show improved response inhibition and interference control in older compared to young adults. Updating and shifting decrease with age, while proactive control remains preserved in older adults.

These findings show that changes in cognitive control subcomponents follow different onsets and trajectories, highlighting the importance of including them in cognitive aging research. While some cognitive control functions decline, others seem to be preserved or even improve with age. Longitudinal follow-up studies can help uncover inter- and intra-individual changes in subcomponents with aging.

Cognitive control, a crucial set of cognitive functions that enable us to reach our goals, declines with age and impacts older adults’ daily life and independence. Living in an aging society, a better understanding of how cognitive control changes with age is needed. However, different aspects of cognitive aging remain poorly understood. Most studies use diverse measurements of cognitive control, include small samples, and only focus on a single cognitive control subcomponent. We administered multiple cognitive control tasks in 231 older adults and 75 young adults. Results showed that not all cognitive control subcomponents declined with age. Some were spared or even improved. This highlights the importance of including multiple cognitive control subcomponents to obtain a comprehensive view on cognitive aging.

De Pue et al. administer a cognitive control test battery measuring inhibition, updating, shifting, and proactive and reactive control in young and older adults. While some cognitive control functions decline with age, others are spared or even improve, highlighting the importance of distinguishing multiple cognitive control functions.

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