Evidence Accumulation Rate Moderates the Relationship between Enriched Environment Exposure and Age-Related Response Speed Declines

Brosnan, Méadhbh B., Pearce, Daniel J., O'Neill, Megan H., Loughnane, Gerard M. and et al., - (2023) Evidence Accumulation Rate Moderates the Relationship between Enriched Environment Exposure and Age-Related Response Speed Declines. Journal of Neuroscience, 43 (37). pp. 6401-6414. ISSN 1529-2401

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Abstract

Older adults exposed to enriched environments (EEs) maintain relatively higher levels of cognitive function, even in the face of compromised markers of brain health. Response speed (RS) is often used as a simple proxy to measure the preservation of global cognitive function in older adults. However, it is unknown which specific selection, decision, and/or motor processes provide the most specific indices of neurocognitive health. Here, using a simple decision task with electroencephalography (EEG), we found that the efficiency with which an individual accumulates sensory evidence was a critical determinant of the extent to which RS was preserved in older adults (63% female, 37% male). Moreover, the mitigating influence of EE on age-related RS declines was most pronounced when evidence accumulation rates were shallowest. These results suggest that the phenomenon of cognitive reserve, whereby high EE individuals can better tolerate suboptimal brain health to facilitate the preservation of cognitive function, is not just applicable to neuroanatomical indicators of brain aging but can be observed in markers of neurophysiology. Our results suggest that EEG metrics of evidence accumulation may index neurocognitive vulnerability of the aging brain.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	aging; cognitive reserve; decision-making; enriched environments; neurocognitive resilience; response speed
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology > Cognition B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > Psychology > Cognitive psychology H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare > Welfare of older people
Divisions:	School of Business > Staff Research and Publications
Depositing User:	Tamara Malone
Date Deposited:	13 Jun 2025 11:01
Last Modified:	13 Jun 2025 11:01
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/7839

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