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Psychology and Aging Copyright 1992 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.

1992, Vol. 7, No. 1,65-71

Aging, Selective Attention, and Inhibitory Processes:


A Psychophysiological Approach
Joan M. McDowd and Diane L. Filion
University of Southern California

The present study investigated the efficiency with which younger and older adults allocate atten-
tion to relevant and irrelevant stimuli. The model of attention guiding this research links the
orienting response with the allocation of attention and habituation with the inhibition of the
allocation of attention. We adapted a paradigm developed by lacono and Lykken (1983) in which
subjects are instructed unambiguously either to attend to or to ignore a series of innocuous tones,
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and the skin conductance orienting response elicited by each tone is measured. Results revealed
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that young subjects instructed to ignore the tones habituated more quickly than did those in-
structed to attend to the tones. However, older adults exhibited nondifferential orienting across the
2 instruction conditions. These results suggest an age-related deficit in the ability to inhibit atten-
tion to irrelevant stimuli.

In the literature on aging and cognitive function, the selective of selective attention has been developed both theoretically and
attention abilities of older adults have been reported to be com- empirically since Triesman's model (e.g., Greenwald, 1972;
promised (see McDowd & Birren, 1990; Plude & Hoyer, 1985; Keele & Neill, 1978; Neill, 1977; Posner & Snyder, 1975; Tipper,
Sugar & McDowd, 1992, for reviews). The literature points to an 1985). Posner and Snyder (1975) stated that theories of attention
age-related decrease in the ability to ignore irrelevant informa- must deal with both facilitatory and inhibitory processes and
tion, which also has been characterized as an increase in dis- that these are separate processes.
tractibility. A number of attempts have been made to provide Within the framework of such a dual-process view of selec-
theoretical accounts of these age differences in selective atten- tive attention it may be beneficial to understand age differences
tion. For example, Rabbitt (1979) made use of the distinction in attentional functioning in terms of a disruption of the bal-
between data-driven and memory-driven selective attention, ance between facilitatory and inhibitory processes. Specifi-
Plude and Hoyer (1985) postulated the spatial localization hy- cally, it is postulated here that aging is associated with changes
pothesis, and Plude (e.g, Plude & Doussard-Roosevelt, 1989) in the inhibitory control of behavior. There are a variety of
used feature integration theory to understand age differences behavioral data to suggest that older adults have weakened in-
in visual selective attention. None of these has proved to be hibitory control relative to young adults. For example, altered
entirely successful as a general theory for age-related attentional inhibitory processes would produce patterns of data such as
declines, although they may embody principles that will be increased intrusion errors in free recall for older adults (e.g.,
part of a more general theory. Fuld, Katzman, Davies, & Terry, 1982; Stine & Wingfield,
The research reported here examines age-related selective at- 1987), increased Stroop interference (Cohn, Dustman, & Brad-
tention behavior in the context of a dual-process model of selec- ford, 1984; Comalli, 1962), inaccurate frequency judgments
tive attention. Such a model emphasizes both the selection of
(Kausler & Hakami, 1982), and less efficient problem solving
relevant information and the inhibition of irrelevant informa-
(Hoyer, Rebok, & Sved, 1979). Hasher and colleagues (Hasher,
tion. The notion that selective attention involves not only the
Connelly, & Zacks, 1990; Hasher, Rypma, Stoltzfus, & Zacks,
processes of attending to selected information but also those
1989) recently reported age-related declines in inhibitory func-
required to inhibit nonselected information has roots in Tries-
tion using negative priming and visual selective attention para-
man's (1969) attenuating filter model. This dual process model
digms. McDowd and Oseas (in press) have reported similar
results with the negative priming paradigm.
This work was supported by a Biomedical Research Support grant The present study was undertaken to examine age differ-
and by the Brookdale Foundation Group, which provided fellowship ences in facilitatory and inhibitory function, and specifically to
support to Joan M. McDowd. test the hypothesis that because of an age-related decrement in
We thank Michael A. Dawson for his assistance in data collection inhibitory function, older adults allocate their attentional re-
and Bill Troyer for assistance with laboratory instrumentation. We sources less efficiently than do young adults. To test this hy-
also thank William lacono for providing us with a copy of his original pothesis, the present investigation involved a selective attention
postexperimental questionnaire and the Society for the Preservation
task carried out within a psychophysiological paradigm involv-
and Encouragement of Radio Drama, Variety, and Comedy (SPAERD-
VAC) for their help in locating a copy of "The Man Who Knew How" ing elicitation and habituation of the orienting response.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Joan The orienting response (OR) is a complex pattern of skeletal,
M. McDowd, Department of Psychology, SGM 501, University of physiological, and behavioral changes that is reliably elicited by
Southern California, J-os Angeles, California 90089-1061. any relatively innocuous stimulus that is novel, unexpected,
65
66 JOAN M. McDOWD AND DIANE L. FILION

interesting, or significant. Physiologically, the OR typically continue to allocate attention to the to-be-ignored tones, result-
consists of a momentary increase in skin conductance, cephalic ing in smaller differential habituation rates between the attend
blood flow, and pupil dilation and a momentary decrease in and ignore conditions relative to the young adults.
heart rate and peripheral blood flow. These physiological
changes are thought to facilitate and enhance the processing of Method
sensory information.
The skin conductance orienting response (SCOR) used in the The use of psychophysiological paradigms is relatively new in the
present research is the most frequently studied OR component study of aging. There are many reports suggesting that older adults are
in psychological research. Recent evidence suggests that the autonomically underaroused (see Marsh & Thompson, 1977, for a re-
SCOR reflects the allocation of attention (e.g., Ohman, 1979) view). This age-related decrease in responsivity typically has been
viewed as a major limitation to the use of autonomic measures in the
and that the size of the SCOR is related to the amount of atten- study of cognitive aging. That is, baseline differences and floor effects
tion allocated (e.g., Dawson, Filion, & Schell, 1989; Filion, in responsivity for older adults would have complicated the interpreta-
Dawson, Schell, & Hazlett, in press). On the basis of this evi- tion of results, as reduced responsivity could be due to autonomic
dence, it may be inferred that the gradual decrease in SCOR underarousal rather than to any experimental manipulations. How-
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size that occurs with repeated stimulus presentations (habitua- ever, the present study was designed such that the hypotheses being
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tion) reflects the decreasing amount of attention being allo- tested called for greater responsivity on the part of older relative to
cated to that stimulus (e.g., Waters, McDonald, & Koresko, younger adults. In fact, our prediction is that the ORs of the younger
1977). subjects will decrease over trials more quickly than the ORs of the
Cowan (1988) recently postulated a model of selective atten- older subjects, particularly in the ignore condition.
tion that is based on habituation in which central executive A similar strategy was used by Jennings, Nebes, and \bvetich (1990),
who used cardiovascular measures to study age-related changes in at-
processes select an information channel for processing and ha- tentional demands associated with memory encoding. They observed
bituate to all nonselected channels. To efficiently interact with greater responsivity on the part of the older adults across trials, even
a constantly changing environment, an individual must not though younger adults initially showed larger heart rate responses.
only attend to stimuli that are novel or meaningful, but must Thus, both in Jennings et al. (1990) and the present study, support for
also quickly cease/inhibit attending to stimuli that have be- hypotheses required greater responsivity on the part of older adults. As
come irrelevant. In the present context, habituation of the a consequence, interpretation of results could not be confounded by
SCOR is considered to reflect the adaptive inhibition of atten- peripheral age-related changes in the response systems under scrutiny
tion to a stimulus as it becomes increasingly less novel, interest- or by a global underarousal of the nervous system.
ing, or meaningful (e.g., Cowan, 1988; Kahneman, 1973;
Posner, 1980). Subjects
SCOR habituation is used in the present investigation as a
Thirty-eight young adults and 40 older adults participated in the
measure of the efficiency with which younger and older adults
present study. The young adults were undergraduates who received
allocate attentional resources. Specifically, the experiment re- extra credit for their participation from introductory psychology
ported here tests the hypothesis that there is an age-related courses at the University of Southern California (USC). The 40 older
decline in the efficiency of attentional allocation that results adult subjects were recruited from a pool of USC alumni who have
from a deficit in the ability to inhibit attention to irrelevant indicated a willingness to participate in research projects. In tele-
information. This hypothesis was tested with procedures used phone scheduling of testing sessions, only those adults reporting good
by lacono and Lykken (1983) in which young adult subjects health and no vision or hearing problems were included. Older adult
were instructed either to attend to or to ignore a series of audi- subjects had at least a college education, were living independently in
tory tones. Under these conditions, the young adult subjects the Los Angeles area, and traveled to the campus on their own. The
instructed to ignore the tones showed more rapid SCOR habit- data of 6 young subjects and 8 older subjects were excluded from analy-
ses because of experimenter error (5) and equipment malfunction (9).
uation to those tones than did subjects instructed to attend to In addition, data were excluded from 8 older adults who failed to ex-
the tones. This experimental design lends itself well to the ex- hibit even one SCOR during the 20 tone presentations. For the remain-
amination of attentional processes in aging. For present pur- ing 56 subjects, age and sex compositions by instruction condition
poses it is of interest to examine the relative rates of SCOR were as follows: The 16 young adults in the attend condition were 6
habituation to the meaningful (attended) and nonmeaningful men and 10 women with an average age of 18.8 years (SD = 1.0). The 12
(ignored) stimuli in groups of young and older adults. On the older adults in the attend condition were 5 men and 7 women with an
basis of the view that habituation reflects the withdrawal of average age of 73.7 years (SD = 4.3). The 16 young adults in the ignore
attention from stimuli that are no longer important, SCOR condition were 7 men and 9 women with an average age of 19.7 years
habituation in both age groups should be significantly faster to (SD = 4.2). The 12 older adults in the ignore condition were 6 men and
the nonmeaningful tones. However, if inhibitory processes are 6 women with an average age of 73.8 years (SD = 6.2).
compromised with age, older adults may demonstrate less con-
trol over the allocation of attention. Inefficient allocation of Design
attention could result in an age-related slowing of habituation to A 2 (age: young, old) X 2 (instruction condition: attend, ignore) be-
the nonmeaningful stimuli. Thus, the critical test in the present tween-groups design was used. Subjects in each age group were as-
study is to compare the rates of SCOR habituation of older signed to either the attend or ignore condition such tint for every two
adults in the attend condition with SCOR habituation rates of subjects tested, one received attend instructions and one received ig-
older adults in the ignore condition. If older adults are indeed nore instructions. Assignment of individual to instruction condition
less able to inhibit the allocation of attention, then they will within each pair was determined by toss of a coin.
AGING, INHIBITORY PROCESSES, AND ATTENTION 67

Materials The play and tone series were then presented. When the play ended,
subjects in each condition were first asked a series of questions regard-
Experimental stimuli consisted of a tape-recorded radio play and a ing events that occurred in the play and were then asked how many
series of 20 tones. The radio play, which lasted approximately 25 min, tones were presented.
was the same as that used by lacono and Lykken (1983). The play,
entitled "The Man Who Knew How," a suspenseful tale from the 1940s,
was originally chosen by lacono and Lykken because it had been rated Acquisition and Scoring of Dependent Measures
as interesting and was found to have no marked effects on electroder-
The primary dependent measure was the SCOR to the 20 tone pre-
mal activity. The tone series that was presented concurrently with the sentations and skin conductance level and heart rate level during the
play consisted of twenty 1000-Hz, 75-dB tones presented at irregular pretask adaptation phase. These physiological measures were hand-
intervals ranging from 30 to 90 s, with an average intertone interval of
scored by one of the authors, who was blind to age and instruction
60 s. All tones were presented during low loudness points of the play.
condition. Following are descriptions of the scoring criteria for these
The first tone was presented exactly 5 min into the play, and the last
autonomic measures.
tone was presented slightly over 5 min before the play's conclusion. The
Skin conductance. The SCOR consists of a momentary increase in
radio play and tones were recorded with a multichannel audio recorder
the electrical conductivity of the skin that usually occurs within 1-5 s
such that they were on separate tracks and could be heard simulta-
following stimulus onset. Skin conductance responses were recorded
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neously. Although auditory acuity was not tested, no subject reported


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from the volar surface of the distal phalanges of the first and second
significant hearing difficulties nor wore hearing aids. In addition, the
fingers of the nonpreferred hand using 10-mm silver-silver chloride
test materials were presented at an intensity of 75 dB, which is well
electrodes and a 0.05 M NaCl paste (Fowles et al, 1981). Skin conduc-
within the range of normal hearing for both young and older adults
tance activity was recorded with the use of a Wheatstone Bridge (e.g.,
(Corso, 1977).
Venables & Christie, 1973) and a GRASS DC preamplifier/driver am-
plifier (Model 7P22). SCOR amplitude for each tone presentation was
Procedures recorded for any response beginning within the interval of 1 -5 s follow-
ing tone onset and having a minimum response amplitude of 0.05 M§.
On arrival at the laboratory, subjects were seated in a comfortable Heart rate. Heart rate was obtained through use of a GRASS
chair and electrodes and transducers were attached for the recording of photoelectric plethysmograph attached to the volar surface of the third
skin conductance and heart rate. These autonomic responses were finger of the nonpreferred hand. The output of the plethysmograph
then recorded during a 5 min pretask adaptation period while subjects was fed into a GRASS Model 7P1 cardiotachometer, which was ad-
sat quietly with their eyes open. Following adaptation, subjects heard justed for reliable triggering from the finger pulse wave signal. The
one of the following two sets of tape-recorded instructions that were cardiotachometer output a continuous reading of heart rate in beats-
taken directly from lacono and Lykken (1983): per-minute based on the time between successive pulses.
1. Ignore condition instructions. "During the remainder of the ses-
sion we're going to measure how well you can ignore distracting tones
while you listen to a tape recording of a story. You will hear the story Results
and the tones coming from the speakers located on the wall behind
you. All the tones will sound the same. Your task is to focus your Postexperimental Questionnaire Data
attention on the story and ignore the tones. It is important that you pay
The purpose of the postexperimental questionnaire was to
very close attention to the story; listen to it carefully and you should be
able to ignore the tones. We will be measuring your body's responses to determine the extent to which subjects followed the experimen-
see how quickly you can stop reacting to these meaningless tones. The tal instructions. The a priori assumption was that across age
more you absorb yourself in the story, the easier it will be to stop groups, subjects in the attend condition (attending to the tones)
reacting to the tones. Take a few minutes now to get into a comfortable would report a more accurate count of the number of tones
position, relax, and try not to move until this part of the session is over. presented than would subjects in the ignore condition. Con-
Remember, the best way to ignore the tones is to pay careful attention versely, it was predicted that subjects in the ignore condition
to the story. The story you will be listening to is a radio play from the (ignoring the tones) would be more accurate in their answers to
1940s entitled 'The Man Who Knew How.' This mystery, set in Great questions regarding the radio play than would subjects in the
Britain, features Charles Laughton in the role of Mr. Fender, a wealthy attend condition. There were no a priori predictions regarding
Englishman who likes to read detective stories. Remember, focus your
age differences in terms of either of these measures.
attention on the story and ignore the tones."
2. Attend condition instructions. "During the remainder of the ses- To test these predictions, separate 2 (age: young vs. old) X 2
sion we will be recording your body's responses while you listen to a (instruction condition: attend vs. ignore) analyses of variance
series of brief tones. The tones will be presented from time to time were performed for the tone count and comprehension ques-
through the speaker located on the wall behind you. Your task is to tions. The tone data were calculated as mean deviations from
attend to these tones. It is important that you pay very close attention the correct count of 20. Mean deviation scores for young adults
to them; listen to them carefully. Focus your attention on the tones. To were 7.6 (SD = 4.5) and 2.1 (SD = 2.5) for the ignore and attend
be sure that you attend to each tone, you should count them silently as conditions, respectively. Mean deviation scores for the older
they occur. Also, you should listen to the tones carefully to be certain adults were 10.0 (SD =3.1) and 3.0 (SD = 3.0) for the ignore and
that they all sound the same. Take a few minutes now to get into a attend conditions, respectively. The analysis of variance re-
comfortable position, relax, and try not to move until this part of the
vealed a marginally significant main effect of age, F(l, 52) =
session is over. Remember to count the tones silently and listen to them
very carefully. So you won't get bored, we will also be playing for you a 3.34, p = .07, indicating that young adults were more accurate
tape-recorded story. This story is a radio play from the 1940s that than the older adults. The main effect of condition also reached
features Charles Laughton in the lead role. Remember, your task is to significance, F(l, 52) = 45.75, indicating, as predicted, that
listen to the tones very carefully—count them silently and be sure they subjects in the attend condition (attend to the tones) were more
all sound the same." accurate in reporting the number of tones presented than sub-
68 JOAN M. McDOWD AND DIANE L. FILION

jects in the ignore condition. Age and condition did not inter- heart rate levels recorded at the onset of the first tone were
act, F< 1.0. submitted to separate 2 (age) X 2 (condition) analyses of vari-
The story comprehension data also showed a marginally sig- ance. The results revealed no significant differences among the
nificant main effect of age, F(l, 52) = 3.14, p = .08. In contrast four groups on any of these measures (all Fs < 1.00). The aver-
to the tone-counting task, this result indicates a trend for the age initial responsivity values for each of the response systems
older adults to outperform the young subjects by answering are shown in Table 2.
more questions correctly. The main effect of condition also was Patterns of habituation. The SCOR magnitude values for
significant, F(l, 52) = 9.93, p < .01, indicating, as predicted, each of the 20 tone presentations were analyzed using analysis
that subjects in the ignore (ignore the tones) condition correctly of variance. Greenhouse-Geisser epsilon corrections were used
answered more questions than subjects in the attend condition. to adjust probabilities for all repeated measures effects. For all
The mean number of questions answered correctly out of 10 for F tests reported below involving repeated measures we report
the young adults was 5.4 (SD =2.1) and 3.7 (SD = 2.4) for the the unadjusted degrees of freedom together with the epsilon-
ignore and attend conditions, respectively. For the older adults, corrected p value. An omega-squared (to2) estimate of effect
the mean number of questions answered correctly was 6.5 magnitude is reported for all significant effects, and the re-
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(SD = 1.6) and 4.7 (SD = 1.9) for the ignore and attend condi- ported probability levels for all multiple comparisons were con-
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tions, respectively. Age and condition did not interact, F < 1.0. servatively adjusted using the Hochberg (1976) procedure. The
Age X Sex X Instruction Condition X Trials analysis revealed a
Orienting Response Results significant main effect of age, F(l, 48) = 36.01, p < .001 (o>2 =
.13); a main effect of trials, F(19, 912) = 10.39, p < .001 («2 =
Initial arousal and responsivity. Because habituation rates .08); and significant Age X Instruction Condition and Age X
have been shown to be related to initial arousal level (e.g, Boh- Trials interactions, F(l, 48) = 12.14 (w2 = .04) and F(l 9,912) =
lin, 1976), we measured skin conductance level (SCL) and heart 3.53 fa2 = .02), respectively, both ps < .01. There were no signifi-
rate (HR) at the beginning and end of the 5-min pretask adapta- cant effects involving sex, and all subsequent analyses are col-
tion phase. Table 1 shows mean skin conductance level and lapsed over this variable. The data, collapsed over sex, are
heart rate at the beginning and end of the pretask adaptation shown in Figure 1.
period as a function of age, sex, and instruction condition. An To clarify the nature of these effects, Instruction Condition X
Age X Sex X Instruction Condition X Period of Adaptation Trials analyses of variance were carried out on the data from
(begining vs. end) analysis of variance carried out on the SCL the two age groups separately. The results for the young subjects
data revealed that SCL decreased significantly across the adap- revealed significant main effects for trials, F(19, 570) =21.48
tation period, F(\, 48) = 91.63, p< .001, but that this decrease (co2 = .28) and instruction condition, F(l, 30) = 55.48,fco2=. 15),
was equal across age and instruction condition (there were no and a significant Instruction Condition X Trials interaction,
other significant effects for SCL). A parallel analysis carried out F(\9,570) = 3.647 (<o2 = .04, all p < .001). As shown in Figure 1,
on the HR data also revealed no significant effects (all Fs < these results indicate that SCOR magnitude in the ignore con-
1.73). Thus the results of the pretask adaptation period suggest dition decreased at a higher rate than did responding in the
that subjects in the four conditions were at comparable levels of attend condition. Results for the older adults revealed only a
autonomic arousal prior to task performance. main effect of trials, F(19,418) = 1.66, p < .05 («2 = .02), indi-
It is equally important to demonstrate that there were no cating significant but nondifferential habituation of the SCOR
significant differences in initial responsivity either across age for the two instruction conditions.
groups or across instruction conditions at the beginning of the In addition, t tests were performed comparing the SCOR
task. To examine this question, the amplitude of the SCORs to magnitude in the attend condition with the ignore condition at
the first tone presentation and the tonic skin conductance and each trial. After conservative adjustment of probabilities using

Table 1
Means and Standard Deviations for Skin Conductance Level (SCL) and Heart Rate Level
(HRL) at Beginning and End of 5-min Pretask Adaptation Phase
Young Old
Attend Ignore Attend Ignore

Measure M SD M SD M SD M SD

Beginning 6.94 2.6 7.39 1.1 6.54 1.2 6.42 1.9


End 5.61 2.2 6.46 1.2 5.35 1.3 5.19 2.1
HRL (bpm)
Beginning 80.87 10.4 77.87 10.2 73.17 11.3 74.42 9.2
End 78.19 10.5 75.66 9.0 72.92 11.8 76.18 14.0

Note. pS = micro-Siemens; bpm = beats per minute.


AGING, INHIBITORY PROCESSES, AND ATTENTION 69

Table 2
Means and Standard Deviations for Skin Conductance Level (SCL), Skin
Conductance Orienting Response (SCOR) Amplitude, and Heart Rate
Level (HRL) to the First Tone Presentation
Young Old
Attend Ignore Attend Ignore

Measure M SD M SD M SD M SD
SCL(V^S) 7.34 2.5 7.97 1.7 7.82 2.5 7.36 1.9
SCOR (VJIS) 0.69 0.3 0.59 0.3 0.71 0.4 0.64 0.3
HRL (bpm) 68.21 11.7 65.85 10.4 74.93 12.1 72.10 9.9

Note. ;iS = micro-Siemens; bpm = beats per minute.


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the Hochberg (1976) procedure, the results revealed that the Discussion
young subjects in the two conditions responded equally for the
The present experiment examined age differences in a selec-
first four trials (all ps > .05) and that SCOR magnitude was
tive attention task using the autonomic orienting response as an
greater for subjects in the attend condition for the remaining 16
trials (all ps < .05). In contrast, SCOR magnitude for the older index of the allocation of attention. In an auditory environment
including the presentation of a radio play and a series of 20
adults did not differ significantly between conditions for any of
the 20 trials (all ps >. 15). Thus, these data indicate that young tones, subjects were instructed either to attend to and count the
tones or to ignore the tones as best they could and listen to the
adults in the attend condition exhibited greater skin conduc-
tance orienting across trials than did young subjects in the ig- play instead. As a manipulation check on subjects' compliance
nore condition, whereas there was no differential orienting with instructions, a postexperimental questionnaire showed
across condition in the older subject groups. that indeed, individuals told to attend to the tones were more
To further investigate this pattern of results, trials to habitua- accurate in reporting a count of those tones, although overall
tion (trials to three consecutive nonresponses) were calculated young adults were more accurate than were older adults. In
and submitted to a 2(age) X 2(condition) analysis of variance. addition, those individuals told to ignore the tones were more
The results are shown in Figure 2. The age main effect was accurate in answering questions about the radio play, with a
highly significant, F(\, 52) = 32.26, p < .01 fa2 = .25), indicating trend for the older adults to be more accurate than the young.
that, collapsing across condition, the older adults were slower to Together, this pattern of results indicates that subjects were
habituate than the younger subjects. The effect of condition performing the tasks as instructed.
also was significant, F(l, 52) = 19.96, p < .01fco2= . 15), as was The instructions given to subjects in the attend and ignore
the Age X Condition interaction, F(l, 52) = 19.35, p < .01fco2= conditions are critical in evaluating our hypotheses, and a few
. 15). As can be seen in Figure 2, the young subjects in the attend comments regarding those instructions are relevant here. First,
condition habituated more slowly than did young subjects in because subjects in the ignore condition are instructed to stop
the ignore condition, whereas there was no difference in habi- responding to the tones, it may be argued that the present re-
tuation rates across conditions for the older subjects. sults indicate that older adults are simply less able to control
their physiological responding. That is, older adults in the ig-

20i

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Young Old

Figure 1. Skin conductance orienting response (SCOR) magnitude Figure 2. Trials to habituation (trials to three consecutive nonre-
over trials as a function of age and instruction condition. sponses) as a function of age and instruction condition.
70 JOAN M. McDOWD AND DIANE L. FILION

nore condition may habituate slowly to the tones because the young adults. The implication of this result for situations re-
task of not responding is more difficult for them. However, if quiring the filtering of irrelevant information and processing of
the task required in the ignore condition was indeed more dif- relevant information is that older adults will be at a disadvan-
ficult for the older adults, then one might expect either (a) a tage; more of their attention will go to the processing of irrele-
significantly greater increase in arousal level from the prein- vant stimuli, possibly at the expense of speed or accuracy in
struction (end of the pretask adaptation period) to the postin- processing relevant information.
struction (onset of the first tone) periods or (b) a larger response The hypotheses guiding the present work state that inhibi-
to the first tone than exhibited by the older subjects in the tory processes are compromised in older adults and that this
attend condition. The data reported in Tables 1 and 2 show no compromise produces age-related deficits in selective attention.
indication of increased arousal or responsivity for the older In the context of a model of attention that links the orienting
subjects in the ignore condition. response with the allocation of attention and habituation with
A second and closely related issue also concerns the ignore the inhibition of the allocation of attention, the data reported
condition instructions. Although this condition includes the here are consistent with notions of age-related inhibitory de-
instruction to stop responding to the tones, the critical aspect cline. We interpret the fact that the older adult groups did not
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of this instruction condition was the information provided on differ in habituation rates because of their inability to effi-
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how to accomplish that goal. That is, the instructions strongly ciently prioritize the allocation of attentional resources. That is,
emphasized the importance of paying close attention to the the older adults in the ignore condition were less able to inhibit
radio play and informed subjects that doing so would help them responding to the irrelevant stimuli than were the young adults.
stop responding to the tones. Asking subjects to ignore the only This interpretation is consistent with other physiological evi-
stimuli presented to them results in an ambiguous situation for dence for age-related central nervous system changes in inhibi-
the subject and can have paradoxical effects on responding and tory function, such as that coming from electrophysiological
habituation (e.g., Gruzelier & Eves, 1987; Kohlenberg, 1970). studies (see Woodruff-Pak, 1988, for a review), and is also con-
Thus provision of an absorbing task that allows subjects to di- sistent with a variety of existing behavioral data (see McDowd,
rect their attention away from the tones provides a significantly 1990, for a review). The role of inhibitory function in age differ-
more powerful assessment of differential attention/attending. ences in performance is becoming a focus of much attention,
If subjects allocate attentional resources to the radio play, they and more work needs to be done to fix the limits of inhibitory
are likely to allocate fewer resources to the tones and hence phenomena. That is, the domains for which it is and is not a
habituate quickly. In contrast, instructions for the attend condi- theoretically useful construct must be identified and explored.
tion strongly emphasized the importance of attending to the The present work takes one such step in that direction.
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