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Aging Decreases the Precision of Visual Working Memory

Shahrzad Mohammadpour Esfahan, Mohammad-Hossein H.K Nili, Mehdi Sanayei, Ehsan Rezayat
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.01.03.522567
Shahrzad Mohammadpour Esfahan
1Institute for Cognitive Science Studies (ICSS), Tehran, Iran
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Mohammad-Hossein H.K Nili
2School of Electrical & Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
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Mehdi Sanayei
3School of Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, Iran
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  • For correspondence: rezayat@ipm.ir mehdi.sanayei@gmail.com
Ehsan Rezayat
4Department of Psychology and Educational Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
3School of Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, Iran
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  • For correspondence: rezayat@ipm.ir mehdi.sanayei@gmail.com
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Abstract

Objectives Working memory (WM) is a cognitive ability that enables us to hold information temporarily. As age increases during life, cognitive abilities such as WM performance decrease. Errors in WM tasks arise from different sources, such as decreasing precision and random response. In the current study, we investigated the effect of age on WM and elucidated sources of errors.

Method A total of 102 healthy individuals aged 18 to 71, participated in the study. A face-based visual WM task was designed and performed. Responses were collected using a graded scale in a delayed match-to-sample reproduction task.

Results The error of participants increased significantly as they aged. According to our analysis of the source of error, the standard deviation of error distribution increased considerably with age. However, there was no significant change in uniform probability with age. These observations were similar between male and female participants.

Conclusion We found that WM performance declines through the lifespan. Investigating the sources of error, we found that the precision of WM decreased with age. This decline was monotonous without any particular age at which a significant drop-off occurred. The results also indicated that the probability of guessing the response as a measure of random response is not affected by age.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
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Posted January 04, 2023.
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Aging Decreases the Precision of Visual Working Memory
Shahrzad Mohammadpour Esfahan, Mohammad-Hossein H.K Nili, Mehdi Sanayei, Ehsan Rezayat
bioRxiv 2023.01.03.522567; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.01.03.522567
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Aging Decreases the Precision of Visual Working Memory
Shahrzad Mohammadpour Esfahan, Mohammad-Hossein H.K Nili, Mehdi Sanayei, Ehsan Rezayat
bioRxiv 2023.01.03.522567; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.01.03.522567

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