Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34413509›Full record

ArticleNature human behaviour2022

Evidence that ageing yields improvements as well as declines across attention and executive functions.

João Veríssimo, Paul Verhaeghen, Noreen Goldman, Maxine Weinstein, Michael T Ullman

Erratum issuedAbstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Nature human behaviour, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 57 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
57citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
32.4field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

57 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 121 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  6. Review
  7. Article
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  10. Pupil dilation as a marker of attention/effort in aging and mild cognitive impairment.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026
    Article
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  12. Review
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  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Observational
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  19. Food Inhibitory Control and Reward Responsiveness in Healthy Aging.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.

João VeríssimoCenter of Linguistics, School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal. jlverissimo@edu.ulisboa.pt.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1264-3017
Paul VerhaeghenSchool of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Noreen GoldmanOffice of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Maxine WeinsteinCenter for Population and Health, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
Michael T UllmanDepartment of Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA. michael@georgetown.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9037-3537
Georgetown University · USGeorgia Institute of Technology · USPrinceton University · USUniversity of Lisbon · PT

Funding

BIODEMOGRAPHY OF HEALTH, SOCIAL FACTORS &LIFE CHALLENGER01AG016661 · NIA · RAND CORPORATION · PI WEINSTEIN, MAXINE A · 1999 to 2013
$9.5M
BIODEMOGRAPHY OF HEALTH, SOCIAL FACTORS AND LIFE CHANGER01AG016790 · NIA · PRINCETON UNIVERSITY · PI GOLDMAN, NOREEN · 1999 to 2014
$5.6M
NIA NIH HHS R01 AG016661NIA NIH HHS R01 AG016790
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Many but not all cognitive abilities decline during ageing. Some even improve due to lifelong experience. The critical capacities of attention and executive functions have been widely posited to decline. However, these capacities are composed of multiple components, so multifaceted ageing outcomes might be expected. Indeed, prior findings suggest that whereas certain attention/executive functions clearly decline, others do not, with hints that some might even improve. We tested ageing effects on the alerting, orienting and executive (inhibitory) networks posited by Posner and Petersen's influential theory of attention, in a cross-sectional study of a large sample (N = 702) of participants aged 58-98. Linear and nonlinear analyses revealed that whereas the efficiency of the alerting network decreased with age, orienting and executive inhibitory efficiency increased, at least until the mid-to-late 70s. Sensitivity analyses indicated that the patterns were robust. The results suggest variability in age-related changes across attention/executive functions, with some declining while others improve.

Indexed as

AgedAged, 80 and overAgingAttentionCross-Sectional StudiesExecutive FunctionFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedNeuropsychological TestsOrientation

Identifiers

PMID34413509
OpenAlexW3195888578

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.