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. 2000 Dec;111(12):2234-44.
doi: 10.1016/s1388-2457(00)00468-5.

Age-related qualitative differences in auditory cortical responses during short-term memory

E J Golob  1 , A Starr
Affiliations
Free article

Age-related qualitative differences in auditory cortical responses during short-term memory

E J Golob et al. Clin Neurophysiol. 2000 Dec.
Free article

Abstract

Objective: To examine the affects of aging on auditory cortical activity during a short-term memory task.

Methods: Young and elderly subjects performed a working memory task using acoustically presented digits while evoked potential components (N100, P200) generated by auditory cortex were recorded. Reaction time and N100/P200 amplitudes and latency were analyzed as a function of memory load.

Results: N100 amplitude to probes decreased as a function of memory load in young subjects, but increased as a function of memory load in the elderly. Young subjects also exhibited changes in N100 latency during memorization of list items, a result not found in elderly subjects.

Conclusions: We conclude that normal aging is associated with a qualitatively different pattern of N100 responses during memory retrieval, and a static N100 response during encoding. The findings suggest that aging is accompanied by functional reorganization of the neural network that supports retrieval in auditory working memory.

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