Reduced distractor filtering with age: Evidence from the distractor positivity ERP

Previous behavioral research has demonstrated that when given positive and negative cues (i.e., cues indicating the features of upcoming targets and distractors, respectively), young and older adults are able to use this information to a similar extent. However, it is possible that older adults achieve similar behavioral performance via different neural mechanisms. The current study aimed to test this question by examining the neural underpinnings associated with effective attentional filtering across age. Young and older adults were presented with either positive (target matching), negative (distractor matching), or neutral cues, which were immediately followed by a search array where participants had to report the orientation of a search target. We found that both age groups appropriately attended to target information when given information about it in the form of a target-matching pre-cue, as indicated by faster response times (RTs) and target-processing event-related potentials (ERPs). However, older adults were not able to suppress distracting information when given a negative cue, as no distractor-positivity (PD) ERP, indicative of suppression, was observed. Additionally, when given a neutral cue, older adults’ ability to suppress distracting information was correlated to measures of inhibitory control. Thus, although young and older adults seem to use negative cues similarly at first glance, neural evidence suggests there are differences between the two age groups in their ability to suppress task-irrelevant information.