Study for the identification of psychophysiological markers of healthy aging and mild cognitive impairment

Abstract

The main aims of this doctoral study were to identify psychophysiological markers of healthy aging and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) associated with the automatic detection of unattended infrequent (deviant/novel) auditory stimuli (MMN), the orienting response to these stimuli (P3a) and the reorienting of attention (RON) to visual relevant stimuli were evaluated. Middle-aged and old adults, relative to young, showed a decline in processing of irrelevant stimuli and the posterior reorienting of attention to relevant stimuli. MMN and P3a components may be useful psychophysiological markers for the diagnosis of aMCI and for distinguishing between aMCI subtypes.