Citation

Scalf PE, Colcombe SJ, McCarley JS, Erickson KI, Alvarado M, Kim JS, Wadhwa RP, Kramer AF. J. Gerontol. B Psychol. Sci. Soc. Sci. 2007; 62 Spec No 1: 32-44.

Affiliation

Beckman Institute and Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 405 N. Mathews, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. pscalf@uiuc.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Gerontological Society of America, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

17565163

Abstract

The size of the functional field of view (FFOV) predicts driving safety in older adults ( Owsley et al., 1998), and practice-related changes in the FFOV may transfer to driving safety ( Roenker, Cissell, Ball, Wadley, & Edwards, 2003). We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and behavioral measures to examine how practice with the FFOV task changes older adults' attentional function. Behavioral data collected outside of the MRI revealed that participants in the training group showed larger improvements across conditions than did those in the control group. fMRI data revealed training-related changes in activation in a number of brain regions. In the right precentral gyrus and right inferior frontal gyrus, increases in activation between fMRI sessions correlated positively with increases in accuracy between behavioral sessions. Practice with the FFOV task improves older adults' attentional function by increasing their recruitment of regions traditionally associated with orienting visual attention.

Language: en