Capacity-limited working memory (WM) systems have been known to degrade in older age. In line with inhibition-deficit theories of aging, WM deficits in older individuals have been attributed to failures in the ability to suppress the processing of task irrelevant, distracting information. Yet, other cognitive mechanisms underlying age-related WM deficits have been observed, including failures in WM with increasing memory load. Moreover, both distracting information and high memory load have been shown to trigger adjustments in cognitive control leading to subsequent performance benefits on later trials. However, no studies have characterized these dynamic adjustments across the life span or examined their contribution to WM deficits in older adults. We investigated the contribution of distracter interference, memory load, and dynamic adjustments in cognitive control on WM performance in 505 individuals with ages ranging from adolescence to older adulthood. Distracter interference and memory load were parametrically manipulated (high vs. low) in a delayed-recognition WM task, and accuracy was examined as a function of current (N) and previous (N-1) trial demands. Curvilinear models revealed that performance differs over the life span depending on specific WM task demands. Specifically, the ability to suppress task irrelevant distracters was greater in adulthood compared with adolescence, but worse in later life. In contrast, memory load resulted in performance deficits with increasing age, which were exacerbated when high load and interference demands combined. Dynamic adjustments in cognitive control was spared, in part, with memory-load triggered sequential trial effects maintained across the life span, but interference-triggered benefits observable up to middle age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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记忆负荷，干扰因素以及认知控制中的动态调整会影响整个生命周期内的工作记忆表现。

已知容量受限的工作内存（WM）系统会随着年龄的增长而降低。与衰老的抑制缺陷理论相一致，老年人的WM缺陷归因于抑制与无关，分散注意力的任务处理能力差。然而，还观察到了与年龄有关的WM缺陷背后的其他认知机制，包括随着记忆负荷增加而导致的WM失败。此外，分散注意力的信息和高存储负荷已显示出触发认知控制方面的调整，从而在以后的试验中带来后续的性能优势。但是，尚无研究描述这些动态调整在整个生命周期中的特征，也没有研究其对老年人WM缺乏的贡献。我们调查了干扰因素，记忆负荷，505名年龄从青春期到成年的个人对WM表现的认知控制的动态调整。在一个延迟识别的WM任务中，参数化地处理了干扰因素的干扰和内存负荷（从高到低），并根据当前（N）和先前（N-1）试验需求对准确性进行了检查。曲线模型显示，性能在整个生命周期中会有所不同，具体取决于特定的WM任务需求。具体而言，与青春期相比，抑制与任务无关的干扰因素的能力在成年期更大，但在以后的生活中则更差。相反，内存负载会随着年龄的增长而导致性能下降，当高负载和干扰需求结合在一起时，这种情况会加剧。避免了对认知控制的动态调整，部分是，记忆负载触发了在整个生命周期中产生的顺序试验效果，但是直到中年才可以观察到干扰触发的好处。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2020 APA，保留所有权利）。