The facial inversion effect throughout healthy adult aging : an event-related brain potential study

Abstract

Age-associated cognitive decline (AACD) is a natural part of life. The difference between malignant and benign AACD can be difficult to determine in the early stages of dementia. Many factors affect an individual's brain changes throughout their life; therefore, the detection of dementia commonly requires longitudinal studies. By the time the symptoms of dementia manifest the damage to one's central nervous system is irreversible. The investigation of biomarkers for the early detection of dementia is ongoing. Electroencephalogram (EEG) research, along with other neuroimaging and clinical testing, has shown that it is possible to detect subtle changes to the central nervous system before the onset of behavioral changes due to dementia. In this research, a sequential imaging oddball paradigm that utilizes upright and inverted familiar and unfamiliar faces were used to scrutinize the effect of facial inversion throughout healthy adult aging. The results indicate that late event-related potentials such as the P300 and late positive potential may be biomarkers for the tracking of age-related changes. Additionally, it may be concluded that the oddball paradigm is not the optimal way to elicit the face inversion effect. Further research is recommended in order to develop conclusions which could not be determined due to limited population and sample size.