14: Aging

Question 1

Whats the typical appearance of Parkinson’s Disease (PD)?

Answer 1

• Trembling of extremities (tremor)
• Short steps (slowness)
• Rigidity
• Reduced arm swining
• Masked facial expression
• Flexed elbows and wrists
• Balance problems
• Movement difficulties

Question 2

What are causes of PD?

Answer 2

Poison/drugs & genetic factors

- more likely after age 50 (increases exponentially)

Question 3

What part of the brain works worse in PD?

Answer 3

Basal ganglia

The whole network is targetted, with leads to inhibition of the motor cortex

Question 4

What is Inhibitory Action Control?

Answer 4

A facet of executive cognition that refers to the mechanism or set of processes engaged to suppress behaviors when such actions are reflex-like, impulsive, inappropriate, premature, incorrect, or no longer relevant.

(suppress behaviors that are impulsive)

Question 5

Whats the Stop Task?

Answer 5

Measures how fast you can inhibit a voluntary action to a stop signal.

Question 6

Whats the Simon Task?

Answer 6

Measures how well you can inhibit an involuntary action impulse that conflicts with goal-directed behavior

Question 7

What research is done on the Stop Task and what are varianties of reaction time?

Answer 7

ADHD, personality, cocaine use and development across the life span all influence RT

Question 8

What can you say about PD and Stop Task?

Answer 8

• PD is just as quick in reaction time without stopping
• PD patients stop slower
• PD affects inhibition

Question 9

What the relation between inhibition and basal ganglia?

Answer 9

Its a process in the subthalamic nuclues, which is affected

Can be treated with brain stimulation! Which alleviated motor symptoms

Question 10

How do PD patients perform on the Simon Task?

Answer 10

On corresponding trials: facilitation: fast reactions time, few errors
On non-corresponding trials: slower reaction times, more errors

Question 11

Whats the difference between corresponding & non-corresponding trials in Simon Task?

Answer 11

Corresponding: Color on same side as the desired location/direction
Non-corresponding Color is on the ‘wrong’ side for desired location.

Question 12

What the Simon effect?

Answer 12

Extra cost and time to solve interference

Question 13

Whats the activation-suppression model?

Answer 13

• Irrelevant information quickly activates an incorrect action impulse
• Relevant information is deliberately translated into a correct action
• Suppression of incorrect action impulse reduces interference

Question 14

What can you say about impulsive action errors?

Answer 14

• Graph depicts the fact that stronger impulse activation = higher percentage of fast errors
• Strong impulses escape inhibition and produce fast errors

Question 15

What can you say about suppression of action impulses?

Answer 15

• Graph depicts that it takes time to suppress
• ## Suppression becomes more effective as reaction time slows.

Question 16

What are the outcomes of the research on the Simon Task?

Answer 16

• Simon effect on reaction time and errors is the same for PD and normal, but PD is slower to begin with.
• Response capture is very similar, too
• Dynamics of suppression are different: Simon effect doesnt go away with more time in PD, but does in normal

Question 17

Whats the ongoing research about?

Answer 17

• Individual differences like freezers vs tremors,

- Effect of dopamine on action control & decision making