Age Differences in Cortical Activity Associated with Preparation to Respond

Correlations between the amplitudes and latencies of the slowly developing negative potential called the contingent negative variation (CNV) and performance in two tasks requiring motor response were studied. Time estimation and forewarned reaction time tasks were used with preparatory intervals of 2, 4, and 8 sec duration. Youngyoung, young-old, and old-old groups of females were tested. The hypothesis that deficits in time estimation ability in the elderly might help to account for age differences in performance in reaction time was investigated. Significant age and interval related differences in the correlation between time estimation ability and reaction time performance were found. The findings are discussed in terms of thefr potential significance for developmental research and clinical assessment.