Does implicit timing change as we grow older?
Healthy older adults prepare for upcoming events using temporal cues just as effectively as younger adults, despite being slightly slower overall.
Source
Age-related differences in implicit temporal preparation
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cross-sectional — Reanalysis of implicit temporal-preparation performance in younger vs older adults
- N
- N=80 · 42 younger (Washington University / St. Louis) and 38 older adults originally recruited
- Population
- Younger and older adults in a temporal-preparation protocol
- Outcome
- Implicit temporal-preparation performance as a function of age
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Does implicit timing change as we grow older?
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40 younger adults
Specifically, there were 40 younger adults (27 female) who were, on average, 19.94 years old (SD = 1.51 years) and 37 older adults (17 female) who were, on average, 70.26 years old (SD = 6.92 years).
78 younger adults
Specifically, there were 78 younger adults (30 female, 46 Male, 2 Non-Binary) who were, on average, 27.74 years old (SD = 4.42 years) and 80 older adults (35 female, 44 Male, 1 Non-Binary) who were, on average, 69.93 years old (SD = 3.78 years).
What they did
The researcher analyzed performance on a visual reaction-time task across different studies to compare younger and older adults' implicit timing abilities. An existing dataset of 40 younger and 37 older adults was analyzed, while another study tested a new online sample of 78 younger and 80 older adults. In both experiments, participants pressed a button as soon as a visual cue appeared after an unpredictable delay ranging from 1000 to 10,000 ms.
What they found
Both studies demonstrated that younger and older adults showed a robust variable foreperiod effect, responding faster when waiting times were longer. Additionally, one of the experiments revealed a significant sequential foreperiod effect, where reaction times were slower if the previous trial had a long delay compared to a short one. Crucially, older adults did not differ from younger adults in the strength of either of these timing effects, showing preserved implicit temporal preparation despite slightly slower general response speeds.
The limits
What it doesn't show
Because the participants were all healthy, these results cannot be generalized to older adults with clinical conditions like Parkinson's disease or Alzheimer's disease. The use of unusually long delays up to 10,000 ms might have changed how participants sustained their attention, meaning the findings may not apply to shorter, sub-second timing contexts. Additionally, the study could not rule out motivational differences, as older adults might have tried harder, masking potential age-related cognitive declines in timing.
Key terms
- Foreperiod
- The variable time delay between a warning signal or trial onset and the presentation of the target stimulus.
- Implicit timing
- The automatic, non-conscious processing of temporal information to optimize behavior and prepare for upcoming events.
- Variable foreperiod effect
- The tendency for reaction times to decrease as the delay on the current trial increases, due to a rising expectation of the stimulus.
- Sequential foreperiod effect
- The slowing of reaction times on a short-delay trial when it immediately follows a trial that had a longer delay.
- Hazard function
- A mathematical representation of the increasing conditional probability that an event will occur as more time passes without it happening.
- Psychomotor Vigilance Task
- A simple reaction-time test used to measure sustained attention by tracking how quickly a person responds to a visual stimulus.
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What type of task is typically used to assess implicit temporal processing in the moment-to-moment domain?
Common questions
Why would older adults be slower overall but still have intact timing abilities?
General cognitive slowing is a normal part of aging that affects physical response execution, but the cognitive ability to track probabilities over time and prepare for a stimulus remains unaffected.
What is the difference between the variable and sequential foreperiod effects?
The variable effect relies on tracking probabilities across a whole block of trials (top-down), while the sequential effect is a shorter-term, automatic influence of the immediately preceding trial (bottom-up).
How does a hazard function explain why we respond faster after long waits?
If you know an event must happen within a certain timeframe, the likelihood of it happening in the next moment increases as more time passes without it occurring, allowing you to build up preparation.
Why might the long delays in this study have helped older adults?
Older adults are often better at sustaining attention over long intervals than younger adults, who are prone to mind-wandering, which may have evened out performance differences.
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