Working memory in healthy aging and in Parkinson’s disease: evidence of interference effects

摘要: Focusing on relevant information while suppressing the irrelevant one are critical abilities for different cognitive processes. However, their functioning has been scarcely investigated in working memory (WM) domain, both healthy and pathological conditions. The present research aimed to study these aging Parkinson's disease (PD), testing three groups of participants (young, older elderly) PD patients, employing a new experimental paradigm. Results showed that transient storing WM causes substantial interference effects, which were remarkable elderly individuals response latency accuracy. Interestingly, patients responded faster equally accurate compared matched control group. Taken together, findings confirm existence similar mechanisms orienting attention inwards contents or outwards perceptual stimuli, suggest suitability our task assess PD.