Elderly adults through compensatory responses can be just as capable as young adults in inhibiting the flanker influence

The goals of this study were to determine whether there is an age-related flanker effect, whether elderly adults produce compensatory responses to overcome their deficiencies, and the extent to which any compensatory responses vary depending on the degree of task demands. To achieve these goals, we manipulated different degrees of demands in cognitive control in a flanker-task paradigm, such as by arranging different proportions of trials in which either a compatible or an incompatible response with respect to the target's pointing direction was required. Throughout the three experiments, we did not observe an increased flanker effect on behavioral measures exhibited by elderly adults compared with young adults. However, several compensatory responses by elderly adults were observed, as evident by the results of event-related potential components. Furthermore, these age-related compensatory responses did not vary as a function of different degrees of task demands. The results suggest that, through the use of compensatory responses, elderly adults are just as capable as young adults in inhibiting flanker influence. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.