This is why older people have a harder time focusing under stress

( Natural News ) Aging takes a toll on the brain, affecting memory and the ability to focus. A study published in the journal Nature Human Behavior found that older people find it difficult to focus because they have a weaker locus coeruleus . This particular brain network is responsible for controlling the ability to focus while under stress or emotional arousal, but it weakens as people age. In the study, researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) in the U.S. , Takachiho University in Japan, and University of Reading in the U.K. used brain scans and the rate of pupil dilation in 28 younger adults and 24 older adults in order to monitor their physiological arousal and locus coeruleus activity. As the brains of the participants were scanned, the research team presented pairs of pictures of a building and an object. They manipulated the photographs to make the building appear clear and highlighted while the other object was made to appear faint, or vice versa. For every pair, the participants had to identify which picture was highlighted. To induce physiological arousal, some trials began with a tone warning that they might get an electric shock at the end of the trial, while others began with a tone signaling that there would be no shock. Greater pupil dilation and sweat were seen among the participants during trials when they expected a shock. Older adults exhibited less activity in the frontoparietal network when expecting a shock. The network did not seem to efficiently respond to the signals sent by the locus coeruleus. When anticipating a shock, they exhibited greater activity in the parahippocampal place area, which activates when a person is viewing images of places, although it did not matter whether the image was highlighted or not. As a […]

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