Many individuals usebackground noise to aid concentration on tasks, yet its effect on workingmemory, especially for those with ADHD, is not well understood. This studyexamined how background white noise influences short-term serial recall inadults with self-reported ADHD (n = 66) and those without (n = 66), controllingfor anxiety and depression. Participants performed a visual-verbal serialshort-term memory task under two conditions: continuous white noise interruptedby quiet intervals (omission deviant) and continuous quiet interrupted by whitenoise (addition deviant). Results showed that addition deviants disruptedperformance more in non-ADHD adults, while omission deviants had a greater disruptiveeffect on adults with self-reported ADHD. These findings suggest thatinterruptions in background sound may differently affect individuals with ADHDsymptoms. Exploratory analyses showed the absence of a primacy effect in adultswith self-reported ADHD. Future research might explore optimal auditoryenvironments tailored to attention differences in those with and without ADHD. 

Human aging is associated with declining cognitive functions such as episodic memory. However, there is growing consensus that some adults can preserve episodic memory and other cognitive abilities into their 80s. This chapter reviews work on how to identify these individuals, stressing the importance of longitudinal data. Specific genetic and life-style factors are discussed which may contribute to well-preserved cognition in aging by promoting brain maintenance.

Throughout adulthood and ageing our brains undergo structural loss in an average pattern resembling faster atrophy in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Using a longitudinal adult lifespan sample (aged 30-89; 2–7 timepoints) and four polygenic scores for AD, we show that change in AD-sensitive brain features correlates with genetic AD-risk and memory decline in healthy adults. We first show genetic risk links with more brain loss than expected for age in early Braak regions, and find this extends beyond APOE genotype. Next, we run machine learning on AD-control data from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative using brain change trajectories conditioned on age, to identify AD-sensitive features and model their change in healthy adults. Genetic AD-risk linked with multivariate change across many AD-sensitive features, and we show most individuals over age ~50 are on an accelerated trajectory of brain loss in AD-sensitive regions. Finally, high genetic risk adults with elevated brain change showed more memory decline through adulthood, compared to high genetic risk adults with less brain change. Our findings suggest quantitative AD risk factors are detectable in healthy individuals, via a shared pattern of ageing- and AD-related neurodegeneration that occurs along a continuum and tracks memory decline through adulthood.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) impact distraction by unexpected deviant sounds and vibrations. The hypothesis was that there would be a difference between individuals with low and high ADHD symptom severity in deviance distraction. In a cross-modal oddball task, we measured the impact of to-be-ignored deviating auditory and vibro-tactile stimuli in 45 adults who were 18 years or older, and self-reported ADHD symptoms using the screening tool of the adult ADHD self-report scale (ASRS). Results did not show a difference between groups with low and high symptoms of ADHD in their propensity for distraction in any modality using both frequentist and Bayesian methods of analysis. The impact of the deviating sounds and vibrations on performance were similar between groups. However, the amount of missed trials, which possibly reflects mind wandering or attention away from the focal task, was higher in the high symptom group (0.5 % difference in missing data between groups). The findings indicate a difference in missed responses between groups, despite no differences in the likelihood of distraction being indicated between vibro-tactile and auditory modalities. Overall, the complexity of adult ADHD symptomatology, especially behavioral differences in attentional control is reflected in the results of this study.

Objective: Treatments for adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are understudied, compared to children and adolescents with the same condition. In this systematic review and random-effects meta-analysis, we aim to evaluate the outcomes of computerized cognitive training (CCT) interventions in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) including adults with ADHD.

Method: Cognitive outcomes and ADHD symptom severity were analyzed separately. In addition, the Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) theory of cognitive abilities was used to categorize outcome variables into subdomains, which were analyzed separately in a subsequent analysis.

Results: The results revealed a small positive change in overall cognitive functioning, a measure of all cognitive outcomes in each study, for individuals who took part in CCT compared to controls (k = 9, Hedge’s g = 0.235, 95% CI [0.002, 0.467], p = 0.048, τ2 = 0.000, I2 = 0.000). However, neither symptom severity nor specific cognitive outcomes (executive functioning, cognitive speed, or working memory) showed a significant improvement.

Conclusions: We analyzed the risk of bias in the chosen studies and discuss the findings in terms of effect size. It is concluded that CCT has a small positive effect in adults with ADHD. Due to the lack of heterogeneity in intervention designs across the included studies, increased heterogeneity in future studies could help inform clinicians about the aspects of CCT, such as training type and length, that are most beneficial for this group.

Age-related changes in cortical volumes are well established but relatively few studies probed its constituents, surface area (SA) and thickness (TH). Here we analyzed 10-year, 3-waves longitudinal data from a large sample of healthy individuals (baseline age = 55–80). The findings showed marked age-related changes of SA in frontal, temporal, and parietal association cortices, and Bivariate Latent Change Score models revealed significant SA-associations with changes in speed of processing in both the 5- and 10-year models. The corresponding results for TH revealed a late onset of thinning and significant associations with reduced cognition in the 10-year model only. Taken together, our findings suggest that cortical surface area shrinks and impacts information-processing capacity gradually in aging, whereas cortical thinning only manifests and impacts fluid cognition in advanced aging.

Individual differences in cognitive performance increase with advancing age, reflecting marked cognitive changes in some individuals along with little or no change in others. Genetic and lifestyle factors are assumed to influence cognitive performance in aging by affecting the magnitude and extent of age-related brain changes (i.e., brain maintenance or atrophy), as well as the ability to recruit compensatory processes. The purpose of this review is to present findings from the Betula study and other longitudinal studies, with a focus on clarifying the role of key biological and environmental factors assumed to underlie individual differences in brain and cognitive aging. We discuss the vital importance of sampling, analytic methods, consideration of non-ignorable dropout, and related issues for valid conclusions on factors that influence healthy neurocognitive aging.