Age differences in gain- and loss-motivated attention

•Visual attention is sensitive to gain and loss incentives in younger and older adults.•Gain- and loss-incentive effects relate to a behavioral marker of phasic arousal in younger adults.•Only gain incentives relate to this marker in older adults. Adaptive gain theory (Aston-Jones & Cohen, 2005)...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain and cognition 2017-02, Vol.111, p.171-181
Main Authors: Williams, Ryan S., Biel, Anna Lena, Dyson, Benjamin J., Spaniol, Julia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age differences
Age Factors
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Aging - physiology
Alerting
Arousal
Attention
Attention - physiology
Attention Network Test
Cortex
Female
Humans
Incentives
Male
Middle Aged
Motivation
Motivation - physiology
Norepinephrine
Older people
Phasic arousal
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Social behavior
Young Adult
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Summary:•Visual attention is sensitive to gain and loss incentives in younger and older adults.•Gain- and loss-incentive effects relate to a behavioral marker of phasic arousal in younger adults.•Only gain incentives relate to this marker in older adults. Adaptive gain theory (Aston-Jones & Cohen, 2005) suggests that the phasic release of norepinephrine (NE) to cortical areas reflects changes in the utility of ongoing tasks. In the context of aging, this theory raises interesting questions, given that the motivations of older adults differ from those of younger adults. According to socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999), aging is associated with greater emphasis on emotion-regulation goals, leading older adults to prioritize positive over negative information. This suggests that the phasic release of NE in response to threatening stimuli may be diminished in older adults. In the present study, younger adults (aged 18–34years) and older adults (60–82years) completed the Attention Network Test (ANT), modified to include an incentive manipulation. A behavioral index of attentional alerting served as a marker of phasic arousal. For younger adults, this marker correlated with the effect of both gain and loss incentives on performance. For older adults, in contrast, the correlation between phasic arousal and incentive sensitivity held for gain incentives only. These findings suggest that the enlistment of phasic NE activity may be specific to approach-oriented motivation in older adults.
ISSN:0278-2626
1090-2147
DOI:10.1016/j.bandc.2016.12.003