Abstract
The present work investigated the effect of a distracting environment in the performance of attentional and working memory (WM) tasks in elderly participants. To this end, forty elderly performed two attentional tasks (simple reaction time and go/no-go tasks), and three WM tasks (arithmetic, memory for digits and sequences of letters and numbers). Each participant performed the tasks in a distracting and a non-distracting environment, with an interval of 14–21 days between sessions. The results revealed better performance in the attentional tasks when these were done in the non-distracting environment, as compared to when they were done in the distracting environment. Specifically, participants provided more accurate responses, fewer false alarms and omissions when responding in the non-distracting environment than when responding in the distracting environment. Participants were also faster at providing correct responses in the go/no-go task when it was performed in the non-distracting environment. As for the memory tasks, the effect of type of environment was significant only in the memory for digits in a forward direction task. Our data suggest the need to consider the potential damaging consequences of distracting environments when the elderly have to perform tasks that demand their attention. Specific examples of such situations are presented in the discussion (e.g., distracting effect of environment on medical and on psychological evaluations).
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Notes
We thank one anonymous reviewer for suggesting the inclusion of this potential practical application of this paradigm.
According to the World Health Organization, the beginning of old age is between 60 and 65 years (WHO 2012).
An additional questionnaire not related to the remaining tasks was employed with the SQ to ensure a similar duration of the two sessions. Because this questionnaire does not relate to the remaining tasks, it is not reported here.
As noted in the participants’ section, 5 of our participants could be classified as being on a clinical level according to the MoCA results as their performance was below 1.5 SD of the normative value. In order to assure our main results were not being driven by the results of these participants, all analyses were repeated excluding these participants. The pattern of the results remained the same with the exception of the False Alarms in the go/no-go task that is now only marginally significant (p = .056).
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Acknowledgments
Pedro F. S. Rodrigues was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology Fellowship (SFRH/BD/84279/2012). Part of this work was conducted to partially satisfy the requirements for Pedro Rodrigues’ master dissertation. Josefa N. S. Pandeirada was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology Fellowship (SFRH/BPD/81438/2011). We thank James S. Nairne for very helpful comments on this manuscript.
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Pedro F. S. Rodrigues and Josefa N. S. Pandeirada have contributed equally to this work.
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Rodrigues, P.F.S., Pandeirada, J.N.S. Attention and working memory in elderly: the influence of a distracting environment. Cogn Process 16, 97–109 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-014-0628-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-014-0628-y