Envejecimiento, cognición y neurociencia - Soledad Ballesteros Jiménez

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Soledad Ballesteros Jiménez
Directora
AGEING, COGNITION,
AND NEUROSCIENCE
ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN
Y NEUROCIENCIA
UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE EDUCACIÓN A DISTANCIA
VARIA 
AGEING, COGNITION, AND NEUROSCIENCE
ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN Y NEUROCIENCIA
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CONTENIDOS
CONTENTS
PREFACIO..............................................................................................
PREFACE ...............................................................................................
AGRADECIMIENTOS............................................................................
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................................................
CONTRIBUTORS...................................................................................
SUMMARIES OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS
OF THE INVITED SPEAKERS
1. AGEING IN SPAIN: MAIN NEEDS AND DEMANDS, Antonio Mar-
tínez Maroto .....................................................................................
2. EMOTION AND COGNITION IN THE OLD AGE, Heiner Ellgring
3. EFFECTS OF BRAIN LESIONS, PSYCHOPATHOLOGY, AND
AGEING ON INHIBITORY PROCESSING: EVIDENCE FROM
ATTENTION ORIENTING TASKS, Luis J. Fuentes, Linda K. Langley
and Ana Vivas ..................................................................................
4. AGEING AND THE ABILITY TO IGNORE IRRELEVANT IN-
FORMATION IN VISUAL SEARCH AND ENUMERATION TASKS,
Elizabeth A. Maylor and Derrick G. Watson.....................................
5. IMPLICIT MEMORY AND SELECTIVE ATTENTION: EFFECTS
OF AGEING AND DEMENTIA, Soledad Ballesteros, José M. Reales
and Julia Mayas ...............................................................................
11
15
17
19
21
27
29
31
35
39
6. MEMORY, GENES AND BRAIN IMAGING, Lars-Göran Nilsson ..
7. REGIONAL BRAIN CHANGES IN ADULTHOOD AND OLD AGE:
THEIR MODIFIERS AND COGNITIVE CORRELATES, Naftalí Raz
8. NEURAL DEDIFFERENTIATION AND COMPENSATION IN
OLDER ADULTS, Denise C. Park ....................................................
9. MEMORY, AGEING AND DEMENTIA: THE BETULA STUDY,
Lars-Göran Nilsson ..........................................................................
10. IDENTIFICATION OF OLFACTORY INFORMATION: CHANGES
WITH AGE, Maria Larsson..............................................................
11. HEALTH MODERATORS AND MEDIATORS OF SEX DIF-
FERENCES IN COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING, Äke Wahlin ...........
12. ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN THE COMT GENE AND COGNI-
TIVE PERFORMANCE, Cindy de Frias...........................................
PART I
BIOLOGY AND COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE 
OF AGEING
1. MODULACIÓN DE LA EXPRESIÓN DE MEDIADORES PRO-
INFLAMATORIOS (QUIMIOQUINAS) EN EL SISTEMA NERVIO-
SO CENTRAL DE RATAS ENVEJECIDAS, José J. Merino, Isabel
Caballero, Vilma Muñetón-Gómez, Carmen Pérez Pérez y Santiago
Segovia .............................................................................................
2. GLUCOSE, AGEING AND COGNITION: THE HIPPOCAMPUS
HYPOTHESIS, Leigh Martin Riby and Deborah Michelle Riby ......
3. AGEING, COMPENSATION AND THE FRONTAL LOBES, Angela
H. Gutchess ......................................................................................
PART II
COGNITION AND AGEING
4. LA INHIBICIÓN COMO UNA FUNCIÓN MULTIFACTORIAL:
DATOS NEUROPSICOLÓGICOS Y PSICOGERONTOLÓGICOS,
Pilar Andrés ......................................................................................
5. PERCEPTUAL DIMENSIONS OF HAPTIC TEXTURES SPACE
BY YOUNG AND OLDER ADULTS, Soledad Ballesteros, José M.
Reales, Beatriz García and Laura Ponce de León .............................
8 AGEING, COGNITION... / ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN...
43
47
49
51
53
55
57
61
79
93
113
129
6. CAMBIOS EN LA MEMORIA DE TRABAJO ASOCIADOS AL EN-
VEJECIMIENTO, Raquel Rodríguez, Patricia Recio, Juan Manuel
Muñoz-Céspedes y Javier González ..................................................
7. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY AND DEPRESSION IN AGEING,
José Miguel Latorre Postigo, Juan Pedro Serrano Selva, Laura Ros
Segura and María José Sancho Valero .............................................
8. CREENCIAS DE CONTROL DE LA MEMORIA EN LA VEJEZ,
Rigoberto López Honrubia, José Miguel Latorre Postigo y Francis-
co Morales Domínguez .....................................................................
9. MEMORIA EPISÓDICA Y ENVEJECIMIENTO: EFECTOS DE UN
PROGRAMA DE ENTRENAMIENTO, Gema Arias Villalta y Sole-
dad Ballesteros .................................................................................
10. ENTRENAMIENTO DE MEMORIA: LA MEJORA DE LA MEMO-
RIA COTIDIANA, EL ESTADO DE ÁNIMO Y LA CALIDAD DE
VIDA, Pedro Montejo Carrasco y Mercedes Montenegro Peña .........
11. PROCEDURAL LEARNING OF COGNITIVE SKILLS AND 
PRIMING EFFECTS IN NORMAL AGEING, José M. Ruiz Sánchez
de León, Sara Fernández Guinea, José Antonio Muñiz, Ana Gar-
cía-Duffy and Javier González-Marqués ...........................................
12. PSYCHOLINGUISTIC MARKERS OF COGNITIVE IMPAIR-
MENT, María Teresa Martín Aragoneses, Ramón López-Higes Sán-
chez, Sara Fernández Guinea, David del Río Grande and Javier 
González-Marqués ............................................................................
PART III
MEMORY AND DEMENTIA
13. PRIMING VISUAL EN ADULTOS, MAYORES SANOS Y ENFER-
MOS DE ALZHEIMER, Julia Mayas, José M. Reales, Montserrat 
González y Soledad Ballesteros.........................................................
14. ENFERMEDAD DE ALZHEIMER: ¿EXISTEN DETERIOROS
DENTRO DEL DETERIORO?, Francisco Javier Moreno y Hermi-
nia Peraita ........................................................................................
15. RECUPERACIÓN DE INFORMACIÓN VERBAL Y NO VERBAL
EN LA ENFERMEDAD DE ALZHEIMER TEMPRANA, Israel
Contador, Bernardino Fernández-Calvo, Francisco Ramos y Jesús
Cacho ...............................................................................................
CONTENIDOS / CONTENTS 9
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159
185
195
211
227
237
253
269
279
16. MEMORIA IMPLÍCITA PARA LA EXPRESIÓN FACIAL DE 
LAS EMOCIONES EN PACIENTES CON ENFERMEDAD DE 
ALZHEIMER Y MAYORES SANOS, Beatriz García Rodríguez,
Soledad Ballesteros, Beatriz Rodríguez, José M. Reales y Anna Fusari
PART IV
APPLIED ISSUES
17. VIEJISMO EN ESTUDIANTES DE PSICOLOGÍA CLÍNICA Y
DE LA SALUD: UN PRIMER ESTUDIO EN ESPAÑA, Adelia de
Miguel Negredo.................................................................................
18. ANÁLISIS DEL ÍNDICE DE ACCIDENTALIDAD EN ANCIANOS:
UNA REVISIÓN DE LA PROBLEMÁTICA EN LAS ÚLTIMAS
DÉCADAS, Cristina Vargas, Cándida Castro, Francisco Javier Mar-
tos y Humberto Manuel Trujillo .......................................................
19. STOP DRIVING: A SELF-AWARENESS QUESTION? UNA VER-
SIÓN ESPAÑOLA, Cándida Castro, Cristina Vargas, Humberto 
M. Trujillo y Francisco. J. Martos.....................................................
10 AGEING, COGNITION... / ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN...
293
309
321
333
PREFACIO
La ciencia conductual, la ciencia cognitiva y la neurociencia están rea-
lizando grandes progresos en la comprensión de los cambios cognitivos
que se producen durante el proceso de envejecimiento. El objetivo de esta
Conferencia es examinar los nuevos avances en la comprensión de la men-
te envejecida con el fin de utilizar este conocimiento para ayudar a las
personas mayores promoviendo la investigación interdisciplinar. La idea
es reunir especialistas en psicología cognitiva y neurociencia que estén inves-
tigando en un númerode áreas tales como el estudio de los mecanismos
básicos que explican el declive cognitivo asociado a la edad, la neuro-
ciencia de los procesos mentales (percepción, atención, memoria, razona-
miento y lenguaje), los cambios neurológicos que ocurren a nivel molecu-
lar y celular que influyen en el funcionamiento mental durante el ciclo
vital, los cambios cerebrales y conductuales asociados a la edad que se
producen en las enfermedades neurodegenerativas, tales como la enfer-
medad de Alzheimer y otras demencias, así como los desarrollos metodo-
lógicos realizados en las técnicas de imágenes cerebrales (PET, fMRI, EEG,
ERP), métodos experimentales y clínicos e intervenciones sociales. La
comprensión de las interacciones entre el contexto neural, conductual,
cognitivo y social son centrales en el modelado del envejecimiento normal
y patológico.
Este libro incluye las contribuciones presentadas a la Primera Confe-
rencia Internacional en Envejecimiento, Cognición y Neurociencia cele-
brada en Madrid, España del 15 al 17 de diciembre de 2004. La Conferen-
cia fue organizada por Soledad Ballesteros con la colaboración de los
Miembros del Centro de Investigación en Envejecimiento y Enfermedades
Neurodegenerativas (CEEN) perteneciente al Instituto de Investigación de
la UNED. Los siguientes Miembros del CEEN han actuado como Comité
Organizador: Beatriz García Rodríguez, Ana Julia Garriga-Trillo, Hermi-
nia Peraita, José M. Reales, Carmen Sandi, and César Venero. El Comité
Organizador fue ayudado por las alumnas del Doctorado de Calidad en
Envejecimiento y Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas: Julia Mayas, Montse-
rrat González, Laura Ponce de León, Natalie Laínsa, y Beatriz Rodríguez.
La organización de la Conferencia fue possible gracias a la ayuda eco-
nómica de varias Instituciones. La primera, el Ministerio de Ciencia y Tec-
nología que nos concedió la Acción Especial Ref.: Nº BSO2002-11724-E).
El IMSERSO (Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales) participó en la
Organización de esta actividad mediante la Firma de un Convenio de Co-
laboración entre el IMSERSO y la UNED para la celebración de la Confe-
rencia. Finalmente, la Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia,
UNED, a través del Vicerrectorado de Extensión Universitaria y la Facul-
tad de Psicología de la UNED ha contribuido también a la organización
de la Conferencia. El evento científico fue organizado como una actividad
de formación de los alumnos del Programa de Doctorado en «Envejeci-
miento y Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas» que obtuvo la Mención de Ca-
lidad concedida por el Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología en el 2003
(MCD2003-00411), revalidadas en el 2004 (MCD2004-00194) y en el 2005
(MCD2005-00121).
Estamos también en deuda con la Universidad Nacional de Educación
a Distancia que proporcionó el apoyo material y humano necesario para
la celebración de la Conferencia, además de proporcionar el local donde
tuvo lugar este Acontecimiento International.
Los capítulos incuidos en este libro tratan de los principales tópicos
de la Conferencia. Estos van desde el Proyecto Betula, un Estudio Longi-
tudinal sobre Envejecimiento, dirigido por Lars-Göran Nilsson hasta la
investigación más actual sobre los procesos cognitivos y los cambios ce-
rebrales que tienen lugar en el envejecimiento normal y patológico.
Los investigadores se reunieron en Madrid durante tres días. Todos
ellos compartían un interés común en la investigación sobre el envejeci-
miento desde diferentes perspectivas. Sus principales intereses se centra-
ron en el estudio del envejecimiento cognitivo y cerebral. Algunos de los
participantes eran especialistas en el estudio de los cambios que se pro-
ducen con la edad en los procesos de la atención, percepción, memoria y
aprendizaje. Otros investigadores, especialistas en el campo de las neuro-
ciencias, estaban interesados en el estudio de los cambios cerebrales que
tienen lugar como consecuencia del envejecimiento. Finalmente, otros in-
vestigadores estaban interesados en el estudio de las personas que enveje-
cen desde una perspectiva social y clínica.
Esperamos que este libro constituya un paso importante como lazo de
unión entre la teoría y la aplicación.
Los Conferenciantes Invitados a esta Conferencia fueron:
Heiner Ellgring, Universität Würzburg, Alemania
Antonio Martínez Maroto, IMSERSO, Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos So-
ciales, España
Luis Fuentes, Universidad de Murcia, España
12 AGEING, COGNITION... / ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN...
Elizabeth A. Maylor, University of Warwick, Inglaterra
Lars-Göran Nilsson, Stockholm University, Suecia
Denise C. Park, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Estados Unidos
Naftalí Raz, Wayne State University, Estados Unidos
Soledad Ballesteros, UNED, España
Lars-Göran Nilsson fue el Organizador y Presidente del Simposio so-
bre el Estudio Betula: Memoria, Salud y Envejecimiento. Los participantes
en este Simposio fueron: Lars-Göran Nilsson, Maria Larsson, Ake Wahlin
y Cindy de Frias
Todos ellos contribuyeron a este volumen con los Resúmenes de los
trabajos presentados a la Conferencia.
Finalmente, las presentaciones realizadas por los Conferenciantes In-
vitados fueron todas en inglés. Por tanto, los resúmenes de todas ellas apa-
recen en el libro en esta lengua. El resto de las presentaciones realizadas
fueron en español o en inglés y aparecen en este libro en el idioma en el
que fueron presentadas en la Conferencia.
PREFACIO 13
PREFACE
Behavioral science, cognitive science, and neuroscience are making
great progress in understanding the cognitive changes that occur during
the aging process. The aim of this Conference is to examine possible new
breakthroughs in understanding the aging mind and to use this knowledge
to help older people promoting interdisciplinary research. The idea is to
bring together specialists in behavioral psychology, cognitive psychology
and neuroscience that are conducting research in a number of areas such
as the study of basic mechanisms accounting for age-related cognitive
decline, cognitive neuroscience of mental processes (sensation, perception,
attention, memory, and language), neural changes that occur at the
molecular and cellular levels that affect mental functioning during the
lifespan, age-related brain and behavioral changes that occur in neuro-
logical diseases such as Alzheimer´s disease and other dementias, as well
as methodological developments on brain imaging techniques (PET, fMRI,
EEG,ERP), experimental methods, and clinical as well as social inter-
ventions. The understanding of interactions among neural, behavioral,
cognitive, and social contexts are central in modeling normal and patho-
logical aging.
This book includes contributions presented at the 1st International
Conference on Aging, Cognition, and Neuroscience held in Madrid, Spain
from December 15-17, 2004. The Conference was organized by Soledad
Ballesteros. The following members of the Research Center on Aging and
Neurodegenerative Diseases (CEEN), UNED Research Institute, Beatriz
García Rodríguez, Ana Julia Garriga-Trillo, Herminia Peraita, José M. Reales,
Carmen Sandi, and César Venero acted as Advisory Committee. The Advisory
Committee was helped by Ph.D students: Julia Mayas, Montserrat González,
Laura Ponce de León, Natalie Laínsa, and Beatriz Rodríguez.
The organization of the Conference was possible by the support of several
Institutions: The Ministerio of Science and Technology (Grant Ref.: Nº
BSO2002-11724-E), the IMSERSO (Ministerio of Labor and Social Affairs),
the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, UNED (Vice-Rectorate
of Extensión Universitaria) and the Facultad de Psicología. The scientific
event was organized as an activity of the Ph.D Program on «Aging and
Neurodegenerative Diseases» (Honor Program MCD2003-00411, MCD2004-
00194, MCD2005-00121.
We are also indebted to the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Dis-
tancia that provided the technical personnel and facilities necessary to
celebrate the International Event.The chapters included in the book address the main topics covered at
the Conference. They ranged from the Betula Longitudinal Study, directed
by Lars-Göran Nilsson to current research on cognitive processes and
brain changes in normal and pathological aging.
Researchers met in Madrid. All of them shared a common interest in
the investigation on aging from different perspectives. Their main interests
were in the study of the aging mind and the aging brain. Some were
specialized in the study of perception, attention, memory, and learning
processes and changes occurring in the old age. Others were interested in
the study of the brain changes occurred with age from a neuroscience
perspective. Other researchers were involved in the study of the aging
mind from a social and clinical perspective.
We hope that this book will constitute an important step toward bringing
theory and application together.
The invited speakers at the Conference were:
Heiner Ellgring, Universität Würzburg, Germany
Antonio Martínez Maroto, IMSERSO, Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos So-
ciales, Spain
Luis Fuentes, Universidad de Murcia, Spain
Elizabeth A. Maylor, University of Warwick, U.K.
Lars-Göran Nilsson, Stockholm University, Sweden
Denise C. Park, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, U.S.A.
Naftalí Raz, Wayne State University, U.S.A.
Soledad Ballesteros, UNED, Spain
Lars-Göran Nilsson was the Convener and Chair of the Simposium on
the Betula Study: Memory, Health and Aging. The participants in the Sim-
posium were:
Lars-Göran Nilsson, Maria Larsson, Ake Wahlin and Cindy de Frias.
They all contribute to this volume with abstracts of the work presented at
the Conference.
Finally, all the contributions of the Invited Speakers were in English,
so they appear in English in the book. The rest of the contributions were
in English or in Spanish and they appear in the book in the language that
they were presented at the Conference.
16 AGEING, COGNITION... / ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN...
AGRADECIMIENTOS
La editora de este libro y los organizadores de la Conferencia en «En-
vejecimiento, Cognición y Neurociencia» agradecen a los conferenciantes
invitados y a los participantes en la conferencia por compartir su conoci-
miento con los asistentes a la misma y por contribuir con sus capítulos a
este libro.
Estamos muy agradecidos por el apoyo proporcionado por el Minis-
terio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Dirección General de Investigación) por la
concesión de la ayuda Ref.: BSO2002-11724-E. También queremos agra-
decer al IMSERSO (Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales) y a la Uni-
versidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) —Vicerrectorado de
Extensión Universitaria y Facultad de Psicología— su apoyo y colabora-
ción en la organización de la Conferencia. Estamos en deuda sobre todo
con el director del Instituto de Investigación de la UNED, Dr. Santiago
Segovia y con la decana de la Facultad de Psicología Dra. Encarnación
Sarriá por su apoyo.
La presidenta de la Conferencia quiere también agradecer a los miem-
bros del Comité Organizador, Drs. Beatriz García Rodríguez, Ana Julia
Garriga-Trillo, Herminia Peraita Adrados, José M. Reales Avilés, Carmen
Sandi Pérez y César Venero Núñez su ayuda en la organización de la Reu-
nión. Finalmente, la organización de la Conferencia fue posible gracias a
la ayuda del Comité Local formado por Montserrat González Encinas, Na-
talie Lainsa, Julia Mayas Arellano, Laura Ponce de León y Beatriz Rodrí-
guez Fúnez. Sin toda esta ayuda, la organización de este evento no hu-
biera sido posible.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Editor and Organizers would like to thank the invited speakers
and the participants at the First International Conference on Aging,
Cognition and Neuroscience for the knowledge they shared at the Meeting
and for contributing to this book.
We gratefully acknowledge the support provided by the Spanish Ministry
of Science and Technology (Dirección General de Investigación) (Grant:
BSO2002-11724-E). We are also very grateful to IMSERSO (Ministerio de
Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales) and to the Universidad Nacional de Educación
a Distancia (UNED) – The Vice-Rectorate of Cultural Affears and the Faculty
of Psychology.
We are indebted to the Director of the Research Institute at UNED, Dr.
Santiago Segovia and the Dean of Psychology, Dra. Encarnación Sarriá
for their support in preparing the Conference.
The Chair of this Conference is also indebted to the Members of the
Advisory Committee, Drs. Beatriz García Rodríguez, Ana Julia Garriga-
Trillo, Herminia Peraita Adrados, José M. Reales Avilés, Carmen Sandi Pérez
and César Venero Núñez for their help in organizing the Meeting. Finally,
the organization of the Conference was possible thanks to the help of our
Local Committee, Montserrat González Encinas, Natalie Lainsa, Julia Mayas
Arellano, Laura Ponce de León and Beatriz Rodríguez Fúnez.
CONTRIBUTORS
Pilar Andrés, Department of Psychology. University of Plymouth, United
Kingdom.
Gema Arias, Centre for Research on Aging and Neurodegenerative Diseases.
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain.
Soledad Ballesteros, Department of Basic Psychology II, Centre for Re-
search on Aging and Neurodegenerative Diseases. Universidad Nacional
de Educación a Distancia, Spain.
Isabel Caballero, Department of Psychobiology, Universidad Nacional de
Educación a Distancia, Spain.
Jesús Cacho, Unit of Dementias, Neurology Service, Hospital Universitario
de Salamanca, Spain.
Cándida Castro, Department of Experimental Psychology and Behavioural
Physiology, Universidad de Granada, Spain.
Israel Contador, Department of Psychology, Universidad de Salamanca,
Spain. Unit of Dementias, Neurology Service, Hospital Universitario
de Salamanca, Spain.
Cindy de Frias, Stockholm University, Sweden.
Adelia de Miguel Negredo, Department of Psychology, Universidad de
La Laguna, Spain.
David del Río Grande, Department of Basic Psychology II. Universidad
Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
Heiner Ellgring, Institut für Psychologie, Universität Würzburg, Germany.
Bernardino Fernández-Calvo, Unit of Dementias, Neurology Service,
Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Spain. AFA Alzheimer’s Centre,
Salamanca, Spain.
Sara Fernández Guinea, Department of Basic Psychology, II. Universidad
Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
Luis J. Fuentes, Universidad de Murcia, Spain.
Anna Fusari, Centre for Research on Aging and Neurodegenerative
Diseases, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain.
Beatriz García, Department of Basic Psychology II, Centre for Research
on Aging and Neurodegenerative Diseases,Universidad Nacional de
Educación a Distancia, Spain.
Ana García-Duffy, Department of Basic Psychology, II. Universidad Com-
plutense de Madrid, Spain.
Montserrat González Encinas, Centre for Research on Aging and Neuro-
degenerative Diseases. Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia,
Spain.
Javier González-Marqués, Department of Basic Psychology, II. Universidad
Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
Angela H. Gutchess, The Beckman Institute. University of Illinois at Ur-
bana, United States.
Linda K. Langley, North Dakota State University, United States.
José M. Latorre, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Universi-
dad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.
Maria Larsson, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Sweden.
Ramón López-Higes Sánchez, Department of Basic Psychology II. Univer-
sidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
Rigoberto López-Honrubia, Department of Psychology. Universidad de
Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.
María Teresa Martín Aragoneses, Department of Basic Psychology II.
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
Antonio Martínez Maroto, IMSERSO, Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos
Sociales, Spain.
Francisco J. Martos, Department of Experimental Psychology and Be-
havioural Physiology, Universidad de Granada, Spain.
Julia Mayas, Centre for Research on Aging and Neurodegenerative
Diseases. Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain.
Elizabeth A. Maylor, Departmentof Psychology, University of Warwick,
United Kingdom.
José J. Merino, Department of Psychobiology, Universidad Nacional de
Educación a Distancia, Spain.
Pedro Montejo, Memory and Cognitive Impairment Unit, Ayuntamiento
de Madrid, Spain.
Mercedes Montenegro, Memory and Cognitive Impairment Unit, Ayun-
tamiento de Madrid, Spain.
22 AGEING, COGNITION... / ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN...
Francisco Morales, Department of Social Psychology. Universidad
Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain.
Francisco J. Moreno, Department of Basic Psychology, I. Centre for
Research on Aging and Neurodegenerative Diseases. Universidad Na-
cional de Educación a Distancia, Spain.
Vilma Muñetón-Gómez, Instituto Cajal, Centro Superior de Investigacio-
nes Científicas. Spain.
José Antonio Muñiz, Department of Basic Psychology, II. Universidad
Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
Juan M. Muñoz-Céspedes, Department of Basic Psychology II. Universidad
Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
Lars-Göran Nilsson, Stockholm University, Sweden.
Denise C. Park, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States.
Herminia Peraita, Department of Basic Psychology, I, Centre for Research
on Aging and Neurodegenerative Diseases. Universidad Nacional de
Educación a Distancia, Spain.
Carmen Pérez Laso, Department of Psychobiology, Universidad Nacional
de Educación a Distancia, Spain
Laura Ponce de León, Centre for Research on Aging and Neuro-
degenerative Diseases. Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia,
Spain.
Francisco Ramos, Department of Psychology, Universidad de Salamanca,
Spain.
Naftalí Raz, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States.
Jose M. Reales, Department of Methodology. Centre for Research on Aging
and Neurodegenerative Diseases, Universidad Nacional de Educación
a Distancia, Spain.
Patricia Recio, Department of Behavioural Sciences Methodology. Univer-
sidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain.
Deborah M. Riby, Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, Stirling,
United Kingdom.
Leigh M. Riby, Department of Psychology. Glasgow Caledonian University,
Scotland, United Kingdom.
Beatriz Rodríguez, Centre for Research on Aging and Neurodegenerative
Diseases, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain.
Raquel Rodríguez, Department of Behavioural Sciences Methodology,
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain.
Laura Ros, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad
de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.
CONTRIBUTORS 23
José M. Ruiz Sánchez de León, Department of Basic Psychology, II.
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain.
María J. Sancho, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Uni-
versidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.
Santiago Segovia, Research Institute, Department of Psychobiology, 
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Spain.
Juan P. Serrano, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Univer-
sidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.
Humberto M. Trujillo, Department of Social Psychology and Behavioural
Sciences Methodology. Universidad de Granada, Spain.
Cristina Vargas, Department of Social Psychology and Behavioural
Sciences Methodology. Universidad de Granada, Spain.
Ana Vivas, City Liberal Studies, Affiliated Institution of the University of
Sheffield, Greece.
Äke Wahlin, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Sweden.
Derrick G. Watson, Department of Psychology, University of Warwick,
United Kingdom.
24 AGEING, COGNITION... / ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN...
SUMMARIES OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS
OF THE INVITED SPEAKERS
1. AGEING IN SPAIN: MAIN NEEDS AND DEMANDS
Antonio Martínez Maroto*
Seven millions three hundred thousand Spaniards are 65 years old or
older. This age group has generated a true revolution in our social structure
due to the fast increasing and the evolution of their social, economic, and
personal characteristics. This group of older adults not only is larger but also
the living conditions are better in most of their facets: healthy ageing,
economic security although their incomes were insufficient, living in houses
in good conditions, etc.
This change in the dimension and the role that older adults are acquiring
in our society have certain angles of analysis that are clear at the first glance
when we observed the common live in our cities and villages. Not only more
elderly adults are seen in our society but also they are «other» elderly people
who´s age is difficult to know using the normal stereotypes on ageing. Their
social image has little to do with the image we had only twenty years ago.
The elderly are in any place in which there is a social, cultural or sport event.
Age is not longer associated with the black and white old films. Old people
are nowadays living a social life.
The attention to the elderly has also suffered a radical change during the
last years not only in Spain but also in Europe. The systems of social
protection invest today a great part of their resources to develop social
policies directed to this population. The idea is to offer them appropriate
responses that meet their needs. The policies evolution has suffered a quick
transformation from the coverage of basic economic and health needs to face
new great problems. This is the case for dependency that suppose a
rethinking of the social protection systems directed to this population.
The necessity of knowing, systematising, and producing information
according to the nowadays social reality of the elderly has produced a stable
* IMSERSO, Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales, Spain.
model of information through the «Observatory of the Elderly». The model
allows us to offer a proper description of a series of indicators that outline a
clear picture of the elderly in Spain. Moreover, this model of information is
useful to let know the administration the needs and demands of the ageing
people.
28 AGEING, COGNITION... / ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN...
2. EMOTION AND COGNITION IN OLD AGE
Heiner Ellgring*
Cognitive decline is the most prominent change in psychological
functioning during old age. This function is extensively studied and specific
declines are well documented. Much less well understood is the change in
emotionality and its interaction with cognitive processes in the elderly. The
question here refers to the role of emotions and their interaction with
cognitive processes during the process of aging. Theories linking memory
to mood or emotions assume that retrieval of certain cognitive contents are
facilitated by emotional processes. Network theories for post-traumatic
stress disorders specifically state that emotions and cognitions are closely
intertwined with the effect that the activation of a single node in the
network can elicit complex negative emotional-cognitive schemata for fear
or depression (Foa et al. 1993, Teasdale & Barnard, 1993). Little is known,
however, with regard to changes of these processes due to age. Current
emotion theories regard cognitive processes like various forms of appraisal
as constituent for an emotion to emerge. Little research is, however, avail-
able on individual differences (cf. Scherer, 2001) and even less on changes
in emotionality and cognitions during old age (cf. Carstensen et al, 2003).
The question whether there are relationships between age related changes
in cognitive and emotional processes is of special relevance since learning,
comprehension etc. can be enhanced or hindered by emotions. This
presentation will therefore deal with the question which emotional changes
are associated with cognitive changes in old age. Furthermore it addresses
the problem how age related diseases like Parkinson or Alzheimer might
clarify associations and also dissociations of emotional and cognitive
changes in old age.
* Institut für Psychologie, Universität Würzburg, Germany.
REFERENCES
CARSTENSEN, L. L., CHARLES, S. T., ISSACOWITZ, D. M., & KENNEDY, Q. (2003): «Emotion
and life-span personality development». In: R. J. Davidson, K. R. Scherer & H. H.
Goldsmith (Eds.), Handbookof Affective Sciences (pp. 726-744). Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
FOA, E. B., ILAI, D., MCCARTHY, P., SHOYER, B., & MURDOCK, T. (1993): «Information
processing in obsessive-compulsive disorder». Cognitive Therapy and Research,
17, 173-189.
SCHERER, K. R. (12001): «Appraisal considered as a process of multi-level sequential
checking». In K. R. Scherer & T. Johnstone (Eds.), Appraisal Processes in Emotion
(pp. 92-120). New York: Oxford University Press.
TEASDALE, J. D., & BARNARD, P. J. (1993): Affect, Cognition and Change: Re-modelling
Depressive Thought. Hillsdale, N. J.: Erlbaum.
30 AGEING, COGNITION... / ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN...
3. EFFECTS OF BRAIN LESION, PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND AGEING
ON INHIBITORY PROCESSING: EVIDENCE FROM ATTENTION
ORIENTING TASKS
Luis J. Fuentes*, Linda K. Langley** and Ana Vivas***
In a visual orienting task, when a peripheral cue (e.g., an abrupt change
in the periphery that stimulates the sensory receptors) is presented in advance
to the appearance of a target, two different effects on target detection emerge.
If the cue does not predict the location of the forthcoming target and the
interval between cue and target (usually referred to as stimulus onset asyn-
chrony, SOA) is shorter than 300 ms, then reaction times (RTs) to targets at
the cued location are faster than at the uncued location. In contrast, if the cue
does not predict the location of the forthcoming target and the cue-target SOA
is longer than 300 ms, then RTs to targets at the cued location are longer than
at the uncued location. This last effect reflects a sort of inhibition mechanism
that prevents the organism from re-exploring previously attended locations
(Posner & Cohen, 1984), and has been termed inhibition of return (see Klein,
2000, for a review).
Fuentes, Vivas, and Humphreys (1999) proposed that within visuospatial
tasks, inhibitory tagging is a secondary process that acts on stimuli presented
at cued (inhibited) locations to hinder access to associated responses. Initial
evidence for inhibitory tagging (IT) came from studies combining the IOR
paradigm with semantic priming and flanker tasks. Fuentes et al. (1999)
found that priming and flanker effects were reversed when the prime or
flanker was presented at inhibited (cued) locations. The authors accounted
for those reversed effects arguing that stimuli presented at cued (inhibited)
locations would activated their representation in the memory system, but
would be temporary disconnected with their associated responses. Ad-
* Universidad de Murcia, España.
** North Dakota State University, U.S.A.
*** City Liberal Studies, Affiliated Institution of the University of Sheffield, Greece.
ditional evidence for IT has come from studies combining IOR with the
Stroop task. Vivas and Fuentes (2001) found that Stroop interference (in-
congruent minus neutral condition) was reduced or even eliminated when
the target stimulus (e.g., the word RED printed in green) fell at a cued
location relative to an uncued location. It is important to note that in the
Stroop task, the task-irrelevant response (word naming) is the prepotent
response (e.g., greater strength due to automatic activation or overlearning
of the reading response). Thus, IOR and IT are two inhibitory mechanisms
that seem to co-operate to help the organisms to explore novel locations
and/or objects (see Fuentes, 2004, for a more detailed explanation).
Here we present evidence that shows that the two forms of inhibition
are differentially affected by brain lesion, psychopathology, and the aging
process. For those studies we used a similar procedure to that employed in
the Vivas and Fuentes’ (2001) study, combining a IOR procedure with the
Stroop task. That procedure allowed us to measure the two forms of
inhibition in a single task. Inhibition of return was observed when RTs at
cued locations were longer than at uncued locations, and IT was observed
when Stroop interference was reduced at cued compared with uncued
locations.
Vivas, Humphreys and Fuentes (2003) asked whether the parietal lobe was
involved in these forms of inhibition. The results with the aforementioned
procedure revealed that the patients showed normal IOR when cue and target
were presented contralateral to the side of the lesion, but no evidence of IOR
was found when presented at the ipsilateral side of the lesion. Concerning IT,
the reduction of the effect was observed when cue and target were presented
at the contralateral side of the lesion (that is, where IOR was observed), but
not at the ipsilateral side, where IOR was not observed. These results suggests
that the parietal lobe plays a fundamental role in modulating IOR but it did
not affect directly IT.
Fuentes, Boucart, Vivas, Alvarez and Zimmerman (2000) used the above
procedure with schizophrenic patients. Contrary to parietal patients,
schizophrenics showed intact IOR effects but they did not show reduced
Stroop interference at cued locations. These results suggest that schizo-
phrenia is associated with a deficit in the higher form of inhibition, maybe
related to deficits in executive attention depending of the frontal lobe.
Finally, Langley, Vivas, Fuentes and Bagne used the combined Stroop-
IOR paradigm to simultaneously examine age effects in the two forms of
inhibition: IOR and IT. Whereas older adults showed intact IOR effects, IT
was compromised in this group. They showed intact Stroop interference but
the reduction of the effect at cued locations was not observed. These
findings are consistent with two models of aging and inhibition (that them-
selves may be compatible). One model argues that location-based inhibition
is more resistant to age than object-based inhibition; the other model argues
that inhibition mediated by non-frontal brain areas is more resistant to
32 AGEING, COGNITION... / ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN...
aging than frontally-mediated inhibition. Although the present results cannot
distinguish between the two models, the findings do argue against generalized
inhibitory deficits with age (see Kramer, Humphrey, Larish, Logan, & Strayer,
1994, for similar conclusions).
REFERENCES
FUENTES, L. J. (2004): «Inhibitory processing in the attentional networks». In M. I.
Posner (ed.), Cognitive neuroscience of attention (pp. 45-55). New York: Guilford
Press.
FUENTES, L. J., BOUCART, M., VIVAS, A. B., ÁLVAREZ, R., & ZIMMERMAN, M. A. (2000):
«Inhibitory tagging in inhibition of return is affected in schizophrenia: Evidence
from the Stroop task». Neuropsychology, 14, 134-140.
FUENTES, L. J., VIVAS, A. B., & HUMPHREYS, G. W. (1999): «Inhibitory tagging of
stimulus properties in inhibition of return: Effects on semantic priming and
flanker interference». Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 52A, 149-164.
KLEIN, R. M. (2000): «Inhibition of return». Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4, 138-147.
KRAMER, A. F., HUMPHREY, D. G., LARISH, J. F., LOGAN, G. D., & STRAYER, D. L. (1994):
«Aging and inhibition: Beyond a unitary view of inhibitory processing in
attention». Psychology and Aging,, 9, 491-512.
LANGLEY, L. K., VIVAS, A. B., FUENTES, L. J., & BAGNE, A. G. (2005): «Differential age
effects on attention-based inhibition: Inhibitory tagging and inhibition of return».
Psychology and Aging, 20, 356-360.
POSNER, M. I., & COHEN, Y. (1984): «Components of visual orienting». In H. Bouma &
D. G. Bowhuis (Eds.), Attention and performance X (pp. 531-556). Hillsdale, NJ:
Erlbaum.
VIVAS, A. B., & FUENTES, L. J. (2001): «Stroop interference is affected in IOR».
Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 8, 315-323.
VIVAS, A. B., HUMPHREYS, G. W., & FUENTES, L. J. (2003): «Inhibitory processing
following damage to the parietal lobe». Neuropsychologia, 41, 1531-1540.
EFFECTS OF BRAIN LESION, PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND AGEING... 33
4. AGEING AND THE ABILITY TO IGNORE IRRELEVANT INFORMATION
IN VISUAL SEARCH AND ENUMERATION TASKS
Elizabeth A. Maylor* & Derrick G. Watson*
In one of the first studies of aging and selective attention, Rabbitt (1965)
askedyoung and older participants to sort packs of cards into two piles
according to whether the letter A or B was present among varying numbers
of distractors. The older adults were slower than the young adults and both
age groups took progressively longer as the number of irrelevant items on the
cards increased. Importantly, there was also an interaction such that this
increase was steeper for the older adults. This result was interpreted as
indicating «an age-decrement in the ability to ignore irrelevant information»
(Rabbitt, 1965, p. 233) and can be regarded as a forerunner of the inhibition
deficit hypothesis of cognitive aging (Hasher & Zacks, 1988; Hasher, Zacks,
& May, 1999). However, an alternative account is in terms of generalised
slowing (e.g., Birren, 1965; Brinley, 1965; Salthouse, 1985) such that, regard-
less of the specific cognitive processes required by the task, older people are
slower than young people by a constant proportion. Thus Rabbitt’s study has
been an important influence on current theories of cognitive aging and also
the subject of debate concerning how to interpret cognitive aging data.
In our own work, we have been exploring age-related differences in the
effects of irrelevant distractors in visual search and enumeration tasks. The
first study examined the effect of perceptual load on age differences in selective
attention (see Maylor & Lavie, 1998). The main task was a computerised
version of Rabbitt (1965) in which young and older adults indicated which of
two target letters was present among varying numbers of central items in a
display. We successfully replicated Rabbitt’s interaction between age and set
size and this was consistent with generalised slowing. However, in addition,
there was a larger distractor letter either to the left or right of the main display
* Department of Psychology, University of Warwick (U.K.).
and this peripheral distractor (which was either incompatible or neutral with
respect to the target letter) had to be ignored. When the central set size was
small, the adverse effect of the incompatible distractor was much greater for
the older adults than for the young adults. With larger central set sizes, this
was no longer the case, with the distractor effect decreasing for older adults
at lower set sizes (i.e., lower perceptual load; see Lavie, 1995) than for young
adults. Thus older adults may not always be less able to «ignore» irrelevant
information — at least one factor that should be considered is perceptual
load. In other words, when the main task is demanding, irrelevant
information may not even be perceived by older people because of an age-
related reduction in perceptual capacity.
Our second study investigated the ability to selectively facilitate the
processing of new visual information by ignoring old irrelevant stimuli al-
ready present in the field, a capacity-limited process termed visual marking
(Watson & Humphreys, 1997). In three experiments (Watson & Maylor, 2002),
we assessed the effects of aging on visual marking using both stationary and
moving items. For young adults, we observed visual marking in all cases
whereas for older adults, visual marking was observed with stationary but not
moving stimuli. The data were not consistent with any simple account of
generalised slowing. This inability to ignore irrelevant moving objects in old
age raises some concern because objects in the real world are rarely stationary
for long and it is perhaps in such complex scenes that successful time-based
selection may provide the greatest benefit.
Finally, we compared age decrements in the ability to ignore irrelevant
information in visual search tasks (cf. Rabbitt, 1965) and in enumeration
tasks, which require the processing and keeping track of multiple targets 
in a display in order to determine as quickly as possible how many targets
are present. In the absence of distractors, contrary to generalised slowing,
enumeration performance was unusually spared by normal aging (e.g.,
Watson, Maylor, & Manson, 2002), with young and older adults showing
similar rates for both subitizing (the fast and accurate enumeration of 1-3
items) and counting (the slower and less accurate enumeration beyond the
subitizing range). This contrasts with the effects of abnormal aging (see
Maylor, Watson, & Muller, in press), with Alzheimer patients showing re-
duced subitizing ranges and slower counting rates in comparison with age-
matched controls.
For the enumeration of targets in the presence of distractors, older
adults’ overall responses were disproportionately slowed (Watson, Maylor,
& Bruce, in press (a), illustrating again a marked age deficit in the ability 
to ignore irrelevant information. However, counting rates remained un-
affected by old age, despite significant age differences in visual search rates
for finding a single target among distractors. We argued that enumerating
beyond four items requires frequent eye movements whereas visual search
does not (see Watson, Maylor, & Bruce, 2004). Moreover, the reliance of
36 AGEING, COGNITION... / ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN...
counting on eye movements is the reason for the counterintuitive age
equivalent counting performance (Watson, Maylor, & Bruce, in press (b). In
other words, the more difficult task of counting targets among distractors
(compared with determining the presence/absence of a single target) forces
young adults to adopt the same slow strategy as older adults, namely, fixating
each target in turn to keep track of those that have already been counted.
This leads to a violation of generalised slowing.
In general, if increasing task difficulty results in the involvement of
additional processes that are both relatively slow and age equivalent, then
age-related differences can disappear. Thus, predictions based on a
generalised slowing account will fail whenever a task requires multiple
processes and one of the processes is both rate limiting and slow (such as the
need to make eye movements). Determining in which situations and tasks
this issue arises will be an important goal for future research.
REFERENCES
BIRREN, J. E. (1965): «Age changes in speed of behavior: Its central nature and
physiological correlates». In A. T. Welford & J. E. Birren (eds.), Behavior, aging
and the nervous system (pp. 191-216). Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.
BRINLEY, J. F. (1965): «Cognitive sets, speed and accuracy of performance in the
elderly». In A. T. Welford & J. E. Birren (eds.), Behavior, aging and the nervous
system (pp. 114-149). Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.
HASHER, L., & ZACKS, R. T. (1988): «Working memory, comprehension, and aging: A
review and a new view». In G. H. Bower (ed.), The psychology of learning and
motivation (vol. 22, pp. 193-225). New York: Academic Press.
HASHER, L., ZACKS, R. T., & MAY, C. P. (1999): «Inhibitory control, circadian arousal,
and age». In D. Gopher & A. Koriat (Eds.), Attention and performance XVII.
Cognitive regulation and performance: Interaction of theory and application (pp.
653-675). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
LAVIE, N. (1995): «Perceptual load as a necessary condition for selective attention».
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 21, 451-
468.
MAYLOR, E. A., & LAVIE, N. (1998): «The influence of perceptual load on age dif-
ferences in selective attention». Psychology and Aging, 13, 563-574.
MAYLOR, E. A., WATSON, D. G., & MULLER, Z. (2005): «Effects of Alzheimer’s disease on
visual enumeration». Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 60, 129-135.
RABBITT, P. M. A. (1965): «An age-decrement in the ability to ignore irrelevant in-
formation». Journal of Gerontology, 20, 233-237.
SALTHOUSE, T. A. (1985): A theory of cognitive aging. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
WATSON, D. G., & HUMPHREYS, G. W. (1997): «Visual marking: Prioritizing selection
for new objects by top-down attentional inhibition». Psychological Review, 104,
90-122.
WATSON, D. G., & MAYLOR, E. A. (2002): «Aging and visual marking: Selectivedeficits
for moving stimuli». Psychology and Aging, 17, 321-339.
AGING AND THE ABILITY TO IGNORE IRRELEVANT INFORMATION... 37
WATSON, D. G., MAYLOR, E. A., & BRUCE, L. A. M. (2004): «The role of eye movements
in subitizing and counting». Manuscript submitted for publication.
WATSON, D. G., MAYLOR, E. A., & BRUCE, L. A. M. (2005a): «Effects of age on searching
for and enumerating targets that cannot be detected efficiently». Quarterly
Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58A, 1119-1142.
WATSON, D. G., MAYLOR, E. A., & BRUCE, L. A. M. (2005b): «Search, enumeration and
aging: Eye movement requirements cause age-equivalent performance in
enumeration but not search tasks». Psychology and Aging, 20, 226-240.
WATSON, D. G., MAYLOR, E. A., & MANSON, N. J. (2002): «Aging and enumeration: A
selective deficit for the subitization of targets among distractors». Psychology and
Aging, 17, 496-504.
38 AGEING, COGNITION... / ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN...
5. IMPLICIT MEMORY AND SELECTIVE ATTENTION: EFFECTS ON AGING
AND DEMENTIA
Soledad Ballesteros*, José M. Reales* and Julia Mayas*
A large number of studies have shown that aging is usually associated
with a decline in cognitive processing, specially, in memory and attention.
However, memory and attention are not unitary processes as has been shown
by experimental as well as neuropsychological studies. Previous visual
studies with healthy young and older adults have shown age invariance in
perceptual priming —as a measure of implicit memory—and when a decline
is found, it is less pronounced than in explicit memory tests. Alzheimer ´s
disease (AD) is the most common dementia. Explicit memory deficits and
attention problems appear early in the course of AD. In contrast, results are
less clear from implicit memory studies conducted exclusively with visual
words and pictures (Fleischman & Gabrieli, 1998).
Recently, we (Ballesteros & Reales, 2004; Ballesteros & Reales, 2006)
have reported preserved implicit memory as measured by the complete
perceptual priming obtained in AD patients and older control participants
for objects presented to touch (without vision) in an object naming task.
Moreover, healthy young adults did not differ in priming from the two
elderly groups. On the other hand, episodic memory assessed by an explicit
recognition test of haptically explored objects was similar in the two
healthy groups (young adults and older controls) while, as expected, AD
patients were highly impaired in this explicit memory task. We interpreted
the double dissociation in the sense that different memory systems mediate
implicit and explicit memory tasks. Recent neuroimaging studies (James et
al., 2002; James, James, Humphrey, & Goodale, 2006) allow to interpreting
* Centre for Research on Aging and Neurodegenerative Diseases. Universidad Nacional 
de Educación a Distancia, Madrid (Spain). Supported by Grants BSO2000-108-CO2-01 and
SEJ2004-0752/PSIC from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, and by Grant 06-
HSE-0205-2004 from the Comunidad de Madrid.
these results as reflecting different memory systems in the brain. The
medial-temporal diencephalic system is responsible for explicit memory. The
other, the implicit memory system, may depend on extrastriate areas of the
occipital cortex and on somatosensory cortical areas. Imaging results and
these behavioral findings support the idea that areas of the occipital cortex
remain relatively preserved in AD patients while other more anterior areas
are deteriorated earlier in the course of the disease. The unimpaired haptic
implicit memory in AD patients support the idea that these areas of the
occipital cortex remain relatively preserved at early stages of AD while more
anterior areas of the cortex are deteriorated.
We present results from a series of recent visual and haptic studies using
selective attention paradigms. In a study we investigated the effect of se-
lective attention at encoding as a function of age and health conditions 
in a visual implicit memory task (Ballesteros, Reales, Mayas, & Sánchez,
2003). At study, AD patients, older healthy controls, and young adults were
presented with two overlapping outline pictures of familiar objects and
named the object that appeared at a certain color. Then, after a delay, implicit
memory was assessed by a picture fragment completion test. Results showed
a significant priming effect, a significant attention effect and a significant
attention x group interaction. Significant priming effects were found for
attended objects in young adults and older healthy adults. AD patients did
not show priming effects even for the attended visual objects. Attended and
unattended stimuli were identified at the same threshold than nonstudied
objects. As in our previous studies with young adults (Ballesteros et al., 2006)
and schoolchildren of 8 and 11 yrs (hiperactivity disorder children and
normal controls), we found that implicit memory is not so automatic and
selective attention at encoding is required for IM. In a follow up visual study,
in which selective attention was not compromised, significant priming effects
were shown by the AD group as well as for the other two healthy groups.
To study the generality of the previous findings, we investigated the
effect of selective attention in another modality, haptics. The idea was to
find out whether selective attention at encoding would eliminate the haptic
priming in AD shown by Ballesteros and Reales (2004). A special paradigm
developed to study the influence of selective attention at study in the hap-
tic modality (Ballesteros, 2002; Bushnell, Ballesteros, Reales, Cohen, &
Chiang, 2003), showed perceptual priming only for attended objects in
young adults and older healthy adults. However, as in the visual study,
priming was not found for AD patients. These results suggest that implicit
memory is not automatic and selective attention at encoding is necessary
to show perceptual priming. AD neuropathology suggests the early
involvement of the posterior parietal lobe. The major lesions of AD (senile
plaques and neurofibrilar tangles) are in the association cortical areas
whereas the primary sensory and motor areas remain relatively intact. AD
starts with a deficit of explicit memory but is followed by a visual spatial
40 AGEING, COGNITION... / ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN...
attention deficit. This may explain the lack of perceptual priming when
selective attention is compromised at encoding. In contrast, significant
priming was found when visual encoding was performed under full attention
conditions, in the visual as well as in the haptic modality (Mayas et al., this
volume).
REFERENCES
BALLESTEROS, S. (2002): Psicología General. Atención y Percepción. Madrid: UNED.
BALLESTEROS, S., & REALES, J. M. (2004): «Intact haptic priming in normal aging and
Alzheimer´s disease: Evidence for dissociable memory systems». Neuropsycho-
logia, 42, 1063-1070.
BALLESTEROS, S., & REALES, J. M. (2006): «Haptic repetition priming and recognition
in young adults, older adults and in Alzheimer´s disease». In M. A. Heller and S.
Ballesteros (Eds.), Touch and Blindness: Psychology and Neuroscience (pp. 95-
119). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
BALLESTEROS, S., REALES, J. M., GARCÍA, E., & CARRASCO, A. (2006): «Selective
attention effects on implicit and explicit memory for familiar objects at different
delay conditions». Psychothema, 18, 96-107.
BALLESTEROS, S., REALES, J. M., MAYAS, J., & SÁNCHEZ, A. (November, 2003): «Selective
attention and priming in AD, elderly and young healthy controls». Paper
presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Vancouver,
Canada.
BUSHNELL, E. W., BALLESTEROS, S., REALES, J. M., COHEN, J., & CHIANG, N. C. (November,
2003): «Haptic priming for attended and nonattended stimuli interacts with
“viewing” conditions». Paper presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the
Psychonomic Society, Vancouver, Canada.
FLEISCHMAN, D. A., & GABRIELI, J. D. E. (1998): «Repetition primingin normal aging
and in Alzheimer´s disease. A review of findings and theories». Psychology and
Aging, 13, 88-119.
JAMES, T. W., HUMPHREY, G. K., GATI, J. S., SERVOS, P., MENON, R. S., & GOODALE, M.
A. (2002): «Haptic study of three-dimensional objects activates extrastriate visal
areas». Neuropsychologia, 40, 1706-1714.
JAMES, T. W., JAMES, K. H., HUMPHREY, F. K., & GOODALE, M. A. (2006): «Do visual and
tactile object representations share the same neural substrate?». In Morton A.
Heller & S. Ballesteros (Eds.), Touch and blindness: Psychology and Neuroscience
(pp. 139-155). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
IMPLICIT MEMORY AND SELECTIVE ATTENTION... 41
6. MEMORY, GENES AND BRAIN IMAGING
Lars-Göran Nilsson*
Some critical features of a longitudinal study on aging, health, and
memory —the Betula Study— and some recent results will be described.
Betula was originally motivated by the wish to explore various aspects of the
development of memory functioning and health in adulthood and late life in
light of the fact that an increasingly larger portion of the population consists
of elderly people. In addition to studying the development of memory and
health in general, two more specific purposes were to explore early, pre-
clinical signs and potential risk factors of dementia, and to obtain premorbid
measures of memory and health in people who will be in accidents or acquire
various other diseases during the course of the study. During the course of
the study, two related purposes have been added to this list, namely to
examine what the characteristics of successful aging are, and to determine
the prerequisites for early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases.
The measures taken to accomplish these goals require an inter-
disciplinary approach involving scientists from several medical, social and
psychological fields. Specifically, the aims of the study require the planning,
conducting and analyzing of data from medical examinations, blood sample
testing, DNA extraction and genotyping, health status enquiries, explorations
of daily living and leisure activities, critical life events, examination of social
and economic factors, and an extensive examination of a wide variety of
memory functions.
The design employed for this study was modeled after Schaie (1965,
1977). Schaie proposed this design to be able to separate the effects of the
three major sources of variation in developmental research: age, cohort, and
time of measurement. The general design of the study, described in detail in
Nilsson et al., (1997). Five samples of subjects participate (S1, S2, S3, S4 and
* Stockholm University, Sweden.
S5). Three waves of data collection have been completed (T1, T2, and T3), a
fourth wave in in progress (T4) and a fifth wave is planned. Participants were
randomly selected from the population of Umeå, a city of about 100.000
inhabitants in northern Sweden.
In a recently completed longitudinal analysis of changes in memory
performance from T1 to T3, it was observed that the decline in episodic
memory may appear at a later stage than has been indicated in cross-
sectional analyses (Rönnlund et al., in press). Whereas the cross-sectional
data suggest that episodic memory declines in a linear fashion from age 35,
the longitudinal data indicate stability up to age 60.
Lövdén et al. (2004) demonstrated, when applying cluster analysis to
memory data obtained at T1 for S1, that one of the six clusters that emerged
contained data from only those individuals, who, at T3, had become
diagnosed as demented. This is an important new finding in that it implies
that memory data might be used as one component in detecting early signs
of dementia.
During the past decade, a number of studies have highlighted that the
neuropathological changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease affect regions
of the brain involved in olfaction. For example, both the hippocampus and
the enthorinal cortex receive direct input from the olfactory bulb and
represent structures that show an early involvement in the disease (e. g.,
Braak & Braak, 1997). Betula offers a unique possibility to further explore
the relationships between olfactory functioning, genetic variation, and neuro-
degenerative disorder.
Recently, Nilsson et al. (2004) examined whether dementia was
associated with levels of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure,
and pulse pressure 10-years prior to clinical diagnosis. This is the first study
to examine this issue in a sample of middle-aged and older men and women
using a long (10-year) preclinical period. Using linear regression, blood
pressure at T1 was used to predict dementia status at T3. Systolic and
diastolic blood pressures and pulse pressure (systolic minus diastolic blood
pressure) were entered as continuous variables. Evidence for the long-term
effect of elevated levels of systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure on
dementia in a sample of middle-aged and older adults was demonstrated.
Persons who were to be diagnosed with dementia 10 years later had higher
systolic pressure and greater pulse pressure at baseline assessment. Further
research on this topic is planned when a 15-year frame has elapsed at T4.
Within the Betula Study, we have demonstrated strong associations
between episodic memory in non-demented individuals and immune-response
related markers Complement C3 and Haptoglobin (Nilsson et al., 1996),
between episodic recall and executive functions in non-demented individuals,
and the e4 allele of ApolipoproteinE (Nilsson et al., 2004), and again between
episodic recall and executive functions in non-demented individuals, and the
COMT gene related to dopamine (de Frias et al., in press).
44 AGEING, COGNITION... / ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN...
We aim to study both functional SNPs and to determine haplotypes in
candidate genes or chromosomal regions. The haplotype diversity will then
be exploited in both genetic linkage and direct association studies.
At the core of cognitive neuroscience of aging is the issue of whether it
can be established how biologically determined factors that induce
structural brain changes can be countered by various experience-based
factors. Examples of issues that have received much interest include
functional brain imaging findings that show that where younger adults
typically activate unilateral brain regions, older adults tend to activate
bilateral regions (Cabeza, 2002) and changes in activation patterns as a
function of genetic status (Bookheimer et al., 2000).
Previous studies in the field have for most part been based on small
samples and there is several inconsistent findings in the literature. We have
recently completed a large-scale fMRI data collection involving 60 individuals
from the Betula study for whom we have genetic data and longitudinal data
on cognitive change (as well as much additional data that can be used to
address secondary hypotheses). In one sub-project (Persson et al., 2004) we
have analyzed brain activity as a function of 10-year longitudinal data. The
results show that bilateral activity accompanies cognitive decline over the
years. Thus, the bilateral response seen for older adults in age-comparative
brain imaging studies seems to be a response to cognitive difficulties in the
older group. This is an important conclusion that we are planning to follow
up by doing longitudinal fMRI studies.
In another sub-project (Lind et al., 2004) we have analyzed fMRI data in
relation to genetic data. In particular, we have classified the 6o individuals as
carriers or non-carriers of a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s dementia
(ApoE4). Our fMRI results show that functional brain activity differ
systematically as a function of genetic risk, with risk persons showing re-
duced brain activity in parietal and frontal areas. The effect is modulated by
whether an individual carries one or two ApoE4 alleles in a dose-related
manner. These findings provide strong evidence for brain-gene interactions
prior to disease onset.
Inthe context of brain, cognition, and genetic factors, it can be mentioned
that Betula offers an unique possibility to assess how head injury affects
neuropsychological and cognitive performance. Specifically, since so many
persons are followed over time, some will suffer injuries during the course of
the study but still continue to participate. We have identified a sub-population
of individuals who have suffered mild head injury and for who we have
cognitive data before as well as after the injury (Sundström et al., 2004). We
found that head injury will lead to impaired cognition —but only for APOE4
carriers. Also, and very critically, this effect was so subtle that within-person
comparison before-after the injury was necessary for detecting it. This outcome
highlights the important role the Betula battery can play for various scientific
issues. In future studies we will relate head injury to risk for dementia.
MEMORY, GENES AND BRAIN IMAGING 45
In future sub-projects we also plan to examine how aging, age-related
cognitive change, and genetic factors relate to structural brain changes.
Specifically, we will do manual tracings of hippocampal volume for all
individuals and also whole brain voxel-based-morphometry. This will provide
information of how the size of grey matter is related to various subject-
related factors. A similar approach will be used for brain white matter on
basis of diffusion tensor imaging. Finally, a formidable challenge will be to
integrate functional and structural brain data with different background
factors to assess higher-order interactions among variables.
REFERENCES
LIND, J., NYBERG, L., PERSSON, J., NILSSON, L.-G., & INGVAR, M. (2004): «Brain activity
in carriers and noncarriers of APOE4». Submitted.
LÖVDÉN, M., BERGMAN, L., ADOLFSSON, R., LINDENBERGER, U., & NILSSON, L.-G. (2004):
«Studying individual aging in an interindividual context: Typical paths of age-
related, dementia-related, and mortality-related cognitive development in old
age». Submitted.
NILSSON, L.-G., BÄCKMAN, L., NYBERG, L., ERNGRUND, K., ADOLFSSON, R., BUCHT, G.,
KARLSSON, S., WIDING, G., & WILBLAD, B. (1997): «The Betula prospective cohort
study: Memory, health, and aging». Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition, 4, 
1-32.
NILSSON, L.-G., SIKSTRÖM, C., ADOLFSSON, R., ERNGRUND, K., NYLANDER, P.-O., &
BECKMAN, L. (1996): «Genetic markers with high versus low scoring on episodic
memory tasks». Behavior Genetics, 26, 555-562.
NILSSON, L.-G., ADOLFSSON, R., BÄCKMAN, L., CRUTS, M., NYBERG, L., SMALL, B. J., &
VAN BROECKHOVEN, C. (2004): «The influence of APOE status on episodic and
semantic memory: data from a population-based study». Submitted.
PERSSON, J., NYBERG, L., LIND, J., LARSSON, A., NILSSON, L.-G., INGVAR, M., & BUCKNER,
R. (2004): «The prefrontal cortex and aging: Functional significance of altered
brain activity». Submitted
RÖNNLUND, M., NYBERG, L., BÄCKMAN, L., & NILSSON, L.-G. (2005): «Stability, im-
provement, and decline in adult life-span development of declarative memory:
Cross-sectional and longitudinal data from a population-based sample».
Psychology and Aging, 20, 3-18.
SCHAIE, K. W. (1965): «A general model for the study of developmental problems».
Psychological Bulletin, 64, 92-107.
SCHAIE, K. W. (1977): «Quasi-experimental research designs in the psychology of
aging». In J. E. Birren & K. W. Schaie (eds.), Handbook of the psychology of aging
(pp. 39-58). New York: Van Nostrand.
46 AGEING, COGNITION... / ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN...
7. REGIONAL BRAIN CHANGES IN ADULTHOOD AND OLD AGE:
THEIR MODIFIERS AND COGNITIVE CORRELATES
Naftalí Raz*
The course of aging is marked by substantial individual variability. Cross-
sectional in vivo studies of normal adult brain support the notion of
differential aging, with association regions, especially the prefrontal cortex,
emerging the most vulnerable to aging. Longitudinal studies, which can
measure true change reveal a substantial age-accelerated expansion of CSF-
filled cavities, mild shrinkage of the cerebral parenchyma, and a pattern of
differential regional shrinkages. Association cortices, the neostriatum, the
hippocampus and the cerebellum as well as the deep white matter and the
connecting myelinated tracts connected with them appear more vulnerable
to the effects of age than primary sensory cortices, the entorhinal cortex, the
paleostriatum, the pons and the related white matter pathways. Notably,
hippocampal and white matter changes are nonlinear and show significant
age-related acceleration. Entorhinal cortex also shows mild decline in the
later years. The biological phenomena expressed in the observed shrinkage
are still unclear, although metabolic and neurochemical studies suggest
decline in the markers of neuronal viability. Cross-sectional age-related
differences in regional brain volumes and integrity of the white matter are
associated with cognitive performance. Smaller prefrontal cortices and
increased burden of white-mater lesions in the frontal lobes are associated
with reduced performance on some executive functions tests and increase in
markers of anterior white matter deterioration. However, a robust asso-
ciation between hippocampal volume and memory performance is rarely
observed in persons with dementia. Availability of longitudinal data may
clarify structure-cognition relationship in normal aging. For example,
shrinkage in entorhinal volume predicts poorer memory performance in-
* Wayne State University, Detroit, USA.
dependent of age. Notably, what is perceived as a pattern of normal brain and
cognitive aging is heavily modified by pathological and beneficial influences.
For example, even mild hypertension may shape the «frontal» appearance of
aging and increased aerobic fitness may contravene such a pattern. The
challenge for future research is separating the effects of positive and negative
modifiers on the course of brain and cognitive aging and using this
understanding in prevention and amelioration of deleterious effects.
REFERENCES
RAZ, N. (2000): «Aging of the brain and its impact on cognitive performance:
Integration of structural and functional findings». In: Craik, F. I. M., & Salthouse,
T. A. (eds.), Handbook of aging and cognition, II, pp.1-90. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
RAZ, N. (2004): «The aging brain observed in vivo: Differential changes and their
modifiers». In: Cabeza, R., Nyberg, L., & Park, D.C. (eds.), Cognitive Neuroscience
of Aging: linking Cognitive and Cerebral Aging, pp. 17-55. New York, NY: Oxford
University Press.
RAZ, N., GUNNING-DIXON, F. M., HEAD, D. P., DUPUIS, J. H., & ACKER, J. D. (1998):
«Neuroanatomical correlates of cognitive aging: evidence from structural MRI».
Neuropsychology, 12, 95-114.
RAZ, N., RODRIGUE, K. M., & ACKER, J. D. (2003): «Hypertension and...». Neuro-
psychology, 17, 1169-1180.
RODRIGUE, K. M., & RAZ, N. (2003): «Shrinkage of the entorhinal cortex over five years
predicts memory performance in healthy adults». Journal of Neuroscience, 24,
1169-1180.
48 AGEING, COGNITION... / ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN...
8. NEURAL DEDIFFERENTIATION AND COMPENSATION
IN OLDER ADULTS
Denise C. Park*
It is increasingly well documented through the use of functional
imaging techniques that with age, there is more distributed prefrontal
activation across both hemispheres, compared to young adults. We will
present evidence suggesting that dedifferentiated neural function is cha-
racteristic of ventral visual cortex in older adults. Additionally, the im-
portant question of whether the activation of additional prefrontal sites in
older adults is compensatory for a declining neural system or whether it
reflects a dysfunctional, disinhibited response will be addressed. Finally,
evidence will be presented suggesting that there is consistent evidence for
decreased hippocampal function in older adults in functional imaging studies
of neurocognitive processes and that increased frontal activation is a com-
pensatory response to the decreased hippocampal function.* University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, U.S.A.
9. MEMORY, AGEING AND DEMENTIA: THE BETULA STUDY
Lars-Göran Nilsson*
The Betula Study is described with respect to objectives, design,
participants, and assessment instruments for health and cognition. Three
waves of data collection have been completed in five-year intervals since
1988-1990. A fourth wave started in 2003 and will be completed in 2005. An
overview of ongoing research is presented on memory and cognition, gender,
genetics, sibship size and birth order. Future prospects of the Betula Study
are then described under three rubrics relating to the overall objectives of the
study: development of memory and health, early cognitive signs and risk
factors of dementia. A plan for implementing some basic principles of Betula
in community health care is presented and discussed.
* Stockholm University, Sweden.
10. IDENTIFICATION OF OLFACTORY INFORMATION: 
CHANGES WITH AGE
Maria Larsson*
This study investigated smell identification ability in a population-based
sample from the BETULA project. In particular, demographic and cognitive
correlates of olfactory proficiency were investigated. 1,906 healthy adults
varying in age from 45-90 years were assessed in a number of tasks tapping
various cognitive domains including cognitive speed, semantic memory, and
executive functioning. The results revealed a gradual and linear deterioration
in odor identification across the adult life span. For all age groups, females
identified more odors than men. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed
that age, sex, education, cognitive speed, and vocabulary were reliable
correlates of performance in the odor identification task. In addition, age-
related deficits in the included demographic and cognitive variables could
not fully account for the observed age-related impairment in identification,
suggesting that additional factors are underlying the observed deterioration.
Likely candidates here are sensory abilities such as olfactory detection and
discrimination.
* Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Sweden.
11. HEALTH MODERATORS AND MEDIATORS OF SEX DIFFERENCES
IN COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING
Äke Wahlin*
Sex differences in adult cognitive functioning are well documented.
Prominent theoretical accounts at the biological level refer to sex steroid
differences or differentially sized cortical regions, and alternate accounts at
the sociocultural level have suggested that sources of sex differences could
include differential life experience and social expectations. Yet, theoretical
accounts based on health have generally been overlooked. Based on data
from the Betula project, we present preliminary results concerning the
impact of medical health on sex differences in cognitive functioning. At odds
with some previous findings, the effects of medical health were similar in
men and women (i. e., sex differences were not moderated by variation in
medical health). However (and in accordance with other reports), inspection
of mediating effects (the extent to which sex differences were accounted for
by health variation) revealed that, overall, cognitive sex differences were
suppressed by health differences. When mediating health variables were
controlled, sex differences tended to magnify on tests for which there was a
female advantage but disappear where there was a male advantage.
* Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Sweden.
12. ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN THE COMT GENE AND COGNITIVE
PERFORMANCE
Cindy de Frias*
The catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene is essential in the
metabolic degradation of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex. We examined
the effect of a Val158Met polymorphism in the COMT gene on individual
differences and changes in semantic and episodic memory, executive
functions, and fluid intelligence in adulthood and old age. The participants
were 292 nondemented men (initially aged 35-85 years) from a random
sample of the population (i. e., the Betula prospective cohort study) tested at
two occasions with a 5-year interval. Carriers of the Met/Met genotype (with
low enzyme activity) performed better on fluid intelligence, episodic recall,
and semantic memory, as compared to carriers of the Val allele (with higher
enzyme activity). An age x COMT interaction for an indicator of fluid
intelligence located the effect for middle-aged men only. Carriers of the Val
allele declined in executive functioning over the 5-year period, whereas
carriers of the Met/Met genotype remained stable in performance. This
COMT polymorphism is a plausible candidate gene for cognitive functioning
in nondemented middle-aged and older adults.
* Stockholm University, Sweden.
PART I
BIOLOGY AND COGNITIVE 
NEUROSCIENCE OF AGEING
1
MODULACIÓN DE LA EXPRESIÓN
DE MEDIADORES PROINFLAMATORIOS 
(QUIMIOQUINAS) EN EL SISTEMA 
NERVIOSO CENTRAL DE RATAS ENVEJECIDAS
José Joaquín Merino*, Isabel Caballero*, Vilma Muñetón-Gómez**, 
Carmen Pérez* y Santiago Segovia*
INTRODUCCIÓN
1. Expresión de las quimioquinas en el sistema nervioso
central
Desde que se identificó que el receptor CXCR4 actuaba como co-recep-
tor para la glicoproteína gp120 del virus del HIV-1, numerosos trabajos
han estudiado la función de las quimioquinas en el sistema inmune. Las
quimioquinas son una familia de pequeñas citoquinas acopladas a proteí-
na G, que estructuralmente se clasifican en varios subfamilias (Onuffer y
Horuk, 2002). En este trabajo, nos hemos centrado en el estudio del recep-
tor CXCR4, que pertenece a la familia de las alfa quimioquinas y de su
único ligando natural denominado SDF 1 alfa —Factor Derivado del Estro-
ma—. Otro sistema de quimioquina estudiado es el receptor CX3CR1 y su
único ligando denominado fractalkina. En la tabla adjunta se muestran
los distintos grupos de quimioquinas existentes (adaptado de Onuffer y
Horuk, 2002).
* Departamento de Psicobiología (UNED).
** Instituto Cajal (CSIC), Madrid.
Adaptado de Onuffer y Horuk, 2002.
Observando la tabla, se deduce que un mismo ligando puede unirse
a diferentes receptores de quimioquinas y viceversa (ejemplo, RANTES
puede unirse indistintamente tanto a los receptores CCR4, CCR6 como
a CCR1). Por este motivo, estudiamos exclusivamente el par de quimio-
quinas CXCR4/SDF1 y CX3CR1/Fractalkina, ya que son las únicas que
muestran especificidad de señal. En efecto, SDF 1 alfa —Factor Deriva-
do del Estroma— se une específicamente al receptor CXCR4, mientras
que la Fractalkina —liberada por neuronas— se une exclusivamente al
receptor CX3CR1 en la microglia o en neuronas (Hatori, Nagai, Heisel,
Ryu y Kim, 2002).
62 AGEING, COGNITION... / ENVEJECIMIENTO, COGNICIÓN...
CXC-R1 Il-8, GCP-2
CXCR2 Il-8, GRO alfa, betta, gamma, NAP-2, ENA 78, GCP-2
CXCR3 Il-10, Mig
CXCR4 SDF-1
CXCR5 BCA/BLC
CC-R1 MIP-1 alfa, RANTES,. MCP-2/3
CC-R2 MDR, TARC
CC-R3 MCP-1/2/3/4
CC-R4 Eotaxina, eotaxina-2, RANTES, MCP-2/3/4
CC-R5 MDR, TARD
CC-R6 RANTES, MIP- alfa, Exodus
CC-R7 ELC/MIP-3 beta
CC-R8 I-309
CC-R9/10 MCP-1, MIP-1 beta
CX3C-R1 Fractalkina
mXC-R1 Linfotactina
Receptores 
de Quimioquinas
Ligandos
Se sabe que las citoquinas con función quimiotáctica (quimioquinas),
participan directamente en la recuperación postraumática del nervio peri-
férico, en reparación tisular y en procesos de daño neural gracias al reclu-
tamiento de linfocitos/macrófagos sobre el tejido dañado (para revisión
consultar Tran y Miller 2002).
El envejecimiento se caracteriza por una desregulación en el sistema
inmune, que junto a alteraciones en el sistema endocrino podrían pre-
disponer a los individuos envejecidos a padecer depresión bajo un estrés
psicosocial intenso (Bauer, 2005). Por otra parte, desregulaciones en la
actividad del eje HPA —Hipotalámico hipofisario adrenal— podrían afec-
tar la susceptibilidad del sistema inmune frente a procesos neuroinfla-
matorios en el envejecimiento.
En este trabajo, nos hemos planteado la posibilidad de que mediado-
res proinflamatorios como TNF a —Factor de Necrosis Tumoral a—