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Differential effects of age and executive functions on the resolution of the contingent negative variation: a reexamination of the frontal aging theory

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Abstract

The “frontal aging theory” assumes the deterioration of executive/inhibitory functions as causal factors for the cognitive decline in human aging. The contingent negative variation resolution (CNV-R) is an electroencephalographic potential elicited after the second (informative) stimulus in warned Go/NoGo tasks requiring a response to one type of stimulus (Go) but not to the other (NoGo). Whereas the CNV-R across conditions is a measure of executive functions, the augmented potential in the NoGo condition is a specific measure of inhibitory processes. The aim was to examine the presumed linkage between executive processes and the CNV-R with special regard to inhibition in the NoGo condition, and to test whether any effects of age on this potential can be explained by a failure of (inhibitory) executive functions. Nineteen young and 15 elderly non-demented healthy volunteers were examined in a Go/NoGo CNV-R paradigm and on a test of executive functions focussed on set shifting (Trail Making test). Results showed: (1) Better executive functions are associated with higher amplitudes of the CNV-R across conditions. (2) The CNV-R is higher for elderly than younger subjects; this increment is much stronger in the NoGo condition. In conclusion, the CNV-R across conditions reflects executive processes such as the shift of motor set. A higher CNV-R for elderly subjects (particularly of the inhibition-related NoGo CNV-R) indicates that this group is not impaired in the available amount of executive control but may exert such control for task demands where young subjects do not require it.

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Notes

  1. The CNV-R is therefore also known as Go/NoGo P3 or late positive component (Simson et al. 1977). Despite its similar name, the attentional P300 is not related to inhibitory processes but considered to represent processes of context update, and has a different scalp distribution than either Go and NoGo CNV-R.

  2. The same applies to a TM(B-A)/A ratio; results with this covariate were numerically identical to the results obtained with the TMB/A covariate owing to the linear dependency of the two ratios (Perianez et al. 2007).

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Acknowledgements

The research leading to this manuscript was in part supported by the Austrian Science Fund (Fonds zur Förderung wissenschaftlicher Forschung), grant P13772. The first author is most grateful to M.Sc. Eva Binder for her continuous support during the process of writing the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The study was approved by the Ethical committee of the Medical University of Vienna in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects before the experiment. For all authors, there is no actual or potential conflict of interest.

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  1. Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Georg Dirnberger & Gerald Lindinger

  2. Department of Neurology, Hospital Barmherzige Brüder Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Wilfried Lang

  3. Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100, Rehovot, Israel

    Georg Dirnberger

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  1. Georg Dirnberger
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  2. Wilfried Lang
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Correspondence to Georg Dirnberger.

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Dirnberger, G., Lang, W. & Lindinger, G. Differential effects of age and executive functions on the resolution of the contingent negative variation: a reexamination of the frontal aging theory. AGE 32, 323–335 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-010-9134-z

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