The effect of aging on event-related potentials and behavioral responses: Comparison of tonal, phonologic and semantic targets

Objective To investigate age-related changes in speech perception by measuring event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by auditory stimuli varying in their linguistic characteristics from pure tones to words. Methods ERPs were recorded from 64 subjects in three age groups (young, middle age and elderly) to auditory target stimuli, using an oddball paradigm. Three different tasks and stimuli were used: tonal, phonological and semantic. Results N100 latency to tonal targets was significantly shorter than to both types of speech targets. P300 latency to tonal targets was significantly shorter than to phonological targets, which in turn was shorter than to semantic targets. P300 amplitude recorded to the speech targets was significantly larger over the left hemisphere than over the right hemisphere in the young subjects. However, the reverse pattern of asymmetry, favoring the right hemisphere was found in the elderly subjects. The pattern of the hemispheric distribution for the middle aged was somewhere in between the young and elderly. Conclusions The data indicate possible progressive changes in left–right asymmetry in language processing with aging. Significance Findings may indicate an increased use of compensatory mechanisms for speech processing, or alternatively, an increased use of different generators as individuals age.