Usefulness of Cognitive Function Evaluation Using an Inhibition Task for Community-dwelling Elderly

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of detecting age-related decline in cognitive function from an early stage. Elderly people and healthy young people performed an inhibition function task, and their brain source localization and functional connectivity were compared. [Participants and Methods] Ten young people and six elderly people were recruited. We used the visual three-stimulus oddball task to calculate the event-related potential (ERP) component and analyzed it using exact low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (eLORETA). [Results] In the elderly, the right temporal pole and the right frontal pole showed predominantly increased neural activity during the execution of the inhibitory function. On the other hand, in the younger subjects, the left precuneus and the left orbitofrontal cortex were the main areas of neural activity. Furthermore, functional connectivity showed a difference between the elderly and the young. [Conclusion] The results suggest that neurophysiological evaluation of inhibition function may detect age-related cognitive decline.