PSYCHOLOGY MASTER'S THESIS ABSTRACT

Erik Ruben Racho
MA-Research
May 2000

Age Differences in Resource Allocation During a Working Memory Task: An EEG Study

    The purpose of this study was to establish a link between performance and physiological responses that could explain the age-related decline in working memory.  A working memory task was used that required participants to update and manipulate verbal items in memory, an evident function of the central executive.  These types of operations engage frontal lobe processing, a region of the brain whose functions are thought to deteriorate in the elderly.

    A task irrelevant auditory probe was used to obtain the event-related potential (ERP) response.  The N100 (N1) component was used as an index of resource allocation.  The results showed a significant decrease in the N1 amplitude at Fz for the older participants during the updating portion of the working memory task in comparison to a control task.

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