Neural mechanisms underlying age-related changes in attentional selectivity

Distraction - or a lack of attentional inhibition - is perhaps the most recognized age-related difference in attention. Older adults are particularly impaired in attentional tasks that require self-directed inhibition of irrelevant information, despite relatively preserved ability in other attentional processes. What are the neural mechanisms underlying the age-related, decreased inhibition of distracting information? In this chapter, we make the case that age-related changes in the frontoparietal network play a critical role in older adults’ decreased attentional selection. A number of age-related changes in frontoparietal network mechanisms are likely to contribute to impaired attentional inhibition in older adulthood, including slowing in alpha band activity, decreased GABAergic and dopaminergic densities, and impaired frontoparietal connectivity with noradrenergic release under arousal. Finally, we discuss other possible mechanisms underlying age-related impairments in attentional selectivity – including changes within the default mode network - and avenues for future research.