Year: 2010
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Executive control is critical for the goal-directed regulation of our behaviour. One example is performance feedback processing which we can utilize to adjust behaviour and improve performance. The current thesis comprises two studies that investigated the influence of performance feedback in younger and older adults. In the first study, our aim was to investigate feedback effects in an executive control task, i.e., the flanker task, in a group of younger adults and replicate the findings in a group of older adults. Performance feedback significantly improved executive performance in younger adults at the expense of errors. In older adults, feedback also led to higher error rates, but in contrast had no significant effect on executive performance. This was probably due to stronger interference between the flanker task and the feedback intervention. Results indicate that executive functions can be positively influenced by performance feedback in younger adults, but not necessarily in older adults. The aim of the second study was to examine whether performance feedback is processed similarly in younger and older adults on a neuronal level and if differential aging effects can be found for positive and negative performance feedback. For this purpose, we used event-related fMRI in the flanker task providing performance feedback after each trial. Although younger and older adults differed in task-related activation, they showed comparable reward-related activation due to feedback. Positive performance feedback elicited the strongest striatal and amygdala activation which was behaviorally reflected in slightly faster reaction times in both age groups. These findings suggest that performance feedback serves as a reward in younger as well as older adults. Taken together, both studies of the present thesis demonstrated that performance feedback has an influence in younger as well as older adults. As the feedback effect is not always comparable between younger and older adults, age should be taken into account when developing cognitive training programs including feedback interventions. As it was demonstrated that frequent positive performance feedback can serve as a reward in the elderly, feedback interventions with high frequency and strong positive valence are recommended for cognitive training procedures.
Source: RWTH Publications (RWTH Aachen)
Authors: Lydia Beck, Siegfried Gauggel
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2311768058