Age-related Differences in Distractor Interference on Line Bisection

Overview

Journal Exp Brain Res

Specialty Neurology

Date 2014 Aug 6

PMID 25092273

Citations 22

Authors

Sergio Chieffi

Alessandro Iavarone

Leonardo Iaccarino

Marco La Marra

Giovanni Messina

Vincenzo De Luca

Marcellino Monda

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Using a bisection paradigm, we investigated age-related differences in susceptibility to distractor interference. Older and younger participants were asked to bisect a horizontal line flanked by a pair of distractors, placed in either left or right hemispace. The results showed that (1) in both groups the distractors interfered with line bisection so that the localization of subjective midpoint was selectively shifted away from their position; (2) the shifting of subjective midpoint was greater in the older than in the younger group when the distractors were placed in the left hemispace. We suggest that the increase of the bisection bias in the older group depends on changes in attentional mechanisms involved in inhibiting irrelevant information.

Citing Articles

Deficits in reaching movements under visual interference as a novel diagnostic marker for mild cognitive impairment.

Ilardi C, Federico G, La Marra M, Amato R, Iavarone A, Soricelli A Sci Rep. 2025; 15(1):1901.

PMID: 39805990 PMC: 11730333. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-85785-7.

Effect of MIND diet intervention on cognitive performance and brain structure in healthy obese women: a randomized controlled trial.

Arjmand G, Abbas-Zadeh M, Eftekhari M Sci Rep. 2022; 12(1):2871.

PMID: 35190536 PMC: 8861002. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-04258-9.

A Meta-Analysis of Line Bisection and Landmark Task Performance in Older Adults.

Learmonth G, Papadatou-Pastou M Neuropsychol Rev. 2021; 32(2):438-457.

PMID: 33890188 PMC: 9090707. DOI: 10.1007/s11065-021-09505-4.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation as a Tool to Investigate Motor Cortex Excitability in Sport.

Moscatelli F, Messina A, Valenzano A, Monda V, Salerno M, Sessa F Brain Sci. 2021; 11(4).

PMID: 33800662 PMC: 8065474. DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11040432.

Wang A, Zhu S, Chen L, Luo W Front Psychol. 2019; 10:1768.

PMID: 31417475 PMC: 6684779. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01768.

References

Wild-Wall N, Falkenstein M, Hohnsbein J . Flanker interference in young and older participants as reflected in event-related potentials. Brain Res. 2008; 1211:72-84. DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2008.03.025. View

Rizzolatti G, Berti A . Neglect as a neural representation deficit. Rev Neurol (Paris). 1990; 146(10):626-34. View

Meudell P, Greenhalgh M . Age related differences in left and right hand skill and in visuo-spatial performance: their possible relationships to the hypothesis that the right hemisphere ages more rapidly than the left. Cortex. 1987; 23(3):431-45. DOI: 10.1016/s0010-9452(87)80005-9. View

Cohn N, DUSTMAN R, Bradford D . Age-related decrements in Stroop Color Test performance. J Clin Psychol. 1984; 40(5):1244-50. DOI: 10.1002/1097-4679(198409)40:5<1244::aid-jclp2270400521>3.0.co;2-d. View

Chieffi S, Ricci M, Carlomagno S . Influence of visual distractors on movement trajectory. Cortex. 2001; 37(3):389-405. DOI: 10.1016/s0010-9452(08)70580-x. View

Plude D, Doussard-Roosevelt J . Aging, selective attention, and feature integration. Psychol Aging. 1989; 4(1):98-105. DOI: 10.1037/0882-7974.4.1.98. View

Maylor E, Lavie N . The influence of perceptual load on age differences in selective attention. Psychol Aging. 1999; 13(4):563-73. DOI: 10.1037//0882-7974.13.4.563. View

Smid H, Lamain W, Hogeboom M, Mulder G, Mulder L . Psychophysiological evidence for continuous information transmission between visual search and response processes. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1991; 17(3):696-714. DOI: 10.1037//0096-1523.17.3.696. View

Zeef E, Sonke C, Kok A, Buiten M, Kenemans J . Perceptual factors affecting age-related differences in focused attention: performance and psychophysiological analyses. Psychophysiology. 1996; 33(5):555-65. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1996.tb02432.x. View

10.

Suzuki S, Cavanagh P . Focused attention distorts visual space: an attentional repulsion effect. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1997; 23(2):443-63. DOI: 10.1037//0096-1523.23.2.443. View

11.

Chieffi S, Iachini T, Iavarone A, Messina G, Viggiano A, Monda M . Flanker interference effects in a line bisection task. Exp Brain Res. 2014; 232(4):1327-34. DOI: 10.1007/s00221-014-3851-y. View

12.

Chieffi S . Effects of stimulus asymmetry on line bisection. Neurology. 1996; 47(4):1004-8. DOI: 10.1212/wnl.47.4.1004. View

13.

Mathewson K, Dywan J, Segalowitz S . Brain bases of error-related ERPs as influenced by age and task. Biol Psychol. 2005; 70(2):88-104. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2004.12.005. View

14.

Fischer M . Less attention and more perception in cued line bisection. Brain Cogn. 1994; 25(1):24-33. DOI: 10.1006/brcg.1994.1020. View

15.

Folstein M, Folstein S, McHugh P . "Mini-mental state". A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J Psychiatr Res. 1975; 12(3):189-98. DOI: 10.1016/0022-3956(75)90026-6. View

16.

Brown J, Jaffe J . Hypothesis on cerebral dominance. Neuropsychologia. 1975; 13(1):107-10. DOI: 10.1016/0028-3932(75)90054-8. View

17.

Scarisbrick D, Tweedy J, Kuslansky G . Hand preference and performance effects on line bisection. Neuropsychologia. 1987; 25(4):695-9. DOI: 10.1016/0028-3932(87)90061-3. View

18.

Goldstein G, Shelly C . Does the right hemisphere age more rapidly than the left?. J Clin Neuropsychol. 1981; 3(1):65-78. DOI: 10.1080/01688638108403114. View

19.

Della Sala S, Laiacona M, Spinnler H, Ubezio C . A cancellation test: its reliability in assessing attentional deficits in Alzheimer's disease. Psychol Med. 1992; 22(4):885-901. DOI: 10.1017/s0033291700038460. View

20.

Coles M, Gratton G, Bashore T, Eriksen C, Donchin E . A psychophysiological investigation of the continuous flow model of human information processing. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1985; 11(5):529-53. DOI: 10.1037//0096-1523.11.5.529. View