Age-Related Differences in the Attention Network Test (ANT)

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of aging on alerting, orienting, and conflict resolution by assessing younger (mean age = 25.8) and older (mean age = 67.9) adults' performance in the Attention Network Test that combines, in a single experimental paradigm, a flanker task with alerting and orienting cues. The analyses of response times indicated equivalent orienting and conflict resolution effects in younger and older adults. By contrast, alerting was found to be significantly reduced in the elderly. This result is only marginally in accordance with recent studies addressing the issues of age-related differences in alerting, which provide mixed results. The possible role of methodological differences across studies in accounting for the controversial results concerning the aging affect on alerting is discussed.

Notes

¹We recently become aware of a study by Jennings, Dagenbach, Engle, and Funke (2007) who investigated the effects of aging on alerting, orienting, and conflict with the use of the ANT. This study will be considered in the general discussion.

^a p < .001.

²We thank Diego Fernandez-Duque for his helpful comments on the rule that cue size, perceptual salience, and duration may have in modulating age-related differences in alerting.