Early effects of normal aging on perseverative and non‐perseverative prefrontal measures

Current neuropsychological research supports a model postulating that prefrontal functions are among the first to decline in normal aging, but this model has rarely been empirically tested with subjects of 65 years or less. This study tests the following hypotheses: (a) A significant decline occurs prior to age 65 in a wide ranging set of prefrontal performance measures and (b) a significant increase occurs on measures of perseveration based on the same prefrontal tasks. A group of young adults (n = 70) aged 20 to 35 and a group of elderly adults (n = 58) aged 45 to 65, group‐matched for education and sex, were evaluated by means of six neuropsychological prefrontal tasks: the Self‐Ordered Pointing Task, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Porteus Mazes, a Verbal Fluency Task, a Design Fluency Task, and the Stroop Test. Four of the six prefrontal scores and four of six measures of perseveration manifested significant declines in the elderly group, suggesting that normal aging prior to age 65 may exhibit ...

[1]  L. Yeudall,et al.  Normative data for the Halstead-Reitan neuropsychological tests. , 1983, Journal of clinical neuropsychology.

[2]  Ronald M. Ruff,et al.  The ruff figural fluency test: A normative study with adults , 1987 .

[3]  Iseli K. Krauss,et al.  Between- and within-group comparisons in aging research. , 1980 .

[4]  W. C. Halstead.  Brain and intelligence , 1947 .

[5]  Brenda Milner,et al.  Design fluency: The invention of nonsense drawings after focal cortical lesions , 1977, Neuropsychologia.

[6]  J. Fuster.  The prefrontal cortex, mediator of cross-temporal contingencies. , 1985, Human neurobiology.

[7]  J. Goodwin,et al.  Wisconsin Card Sort Test performance in a healthy elderly population. , 1987, Journal of gerontology.

[8]  E. Kaplan,et al.  The long-term effects of prefrontal leukotomy. , 1981, Archives of neurology.

[9]  B. Milner,et al.  Deficits on subject-ordered tasks after frontal- and temporal-lobe lesions in man , 1982, Neuropsychologia.

[10]  R. Heaton,et al.  The utility of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in detecting and localizing frontal lobe lesions. , 1980, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[11]  H. Werner,et al.  Interference effects of Stroop color-word test in childhood, adulthood, and aging. , 1962, The Journal of genetic psychology.

[12]  E. Kaplan,et al.  The assessment of aphasia and related disorders , 1972 .

[13]  Mark S. Seidenberg,et al.  Changes in cerebral functioning associated with normal aging. , 1989, Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology.

[14]  C. Caltagirone,et al.  Neuropsychological correlates of localized cerebral lesions in non-aphasic brain-damaged patients. , 1981, Journal of clinical neuropsychology.

[15]  James E. Birren,et al.  Behavioral slowing with age: Causes, organization, and consequences. , 1980 .

[16]  S. D. Porteus.  Porteus Maze Test: Fifty Years Application , 1965 .

[17]  A. Veroff.  The neuropsychology of aging , 1980, Psychological research.

[18]  R. Heaton,et al.  Diagnostic utility of the Thurstone Word Fluency Test in neuropsychological evaluations. , 1982, Journal of clinical neuropsychology.

[19]  L. Hurwitz,et al.  On perseveration in aphasics. , 1967, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[20]  E. Perret.  The left frontal lobe of man and the suppression of habitual responses in verbal categorical behaviour. , 1974, Neuropsychologia.

[21]  Porteus Sd,et al.  Psychosurgery and test validity. , 1947 .

[22]  Robert Lalonde,et al.  Les déclins des fonctions cognitives chez la personne âgée: Une perspective neuropsychologique , 1990, Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement.

[23]  E. Lesher,et al.  Neuropsychological changes in frontal functions with aging , 1985 .

[24]  Bruce L. Miller,et al.  Performance on frontal lobe tests in healthy, older individuals , 1990 .

[25]  A. H. Roberts,et al.  Psychosurgery and the Porteus Maze Tests: review and reanalysis of data. , 1978, Archives of general psychiatry.

[26]  B. Milner.  Effects of Different Brain Lesions on Card Sorting: The Role of the Frontal Lobes , 1963 .

[27]  E. Miller.  Possible frontal impairments in Parkinson's disease: a test using a measure of verbal fluency. , 1985, The British journal of clinical psychology.

[28]  A. Ramier,et al.  [Respective rôles of frontal lesions and lesion lateralization in "verbal fluency" deficiencies]. , 1970, Revue neurologique.

[29]  Changes in neuropsychological functioning in an aging population. , 1980 .

[30]  R. Yeo,et al.  Differential declines in cognitive function with aging: The possible role of health status , 1988 .

[31]  J. Stroop.  Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. , 1992 .

[32]  R. Nass,et al.  The assessment of aphasia and related disorders By Harold Goodglass and edith kaplan philadelphia, lea & febiger, 1983 illustrated, $27.50 (package) , 1984 .