Age differences in dynamic measures of EEG

Eighteen older adults and 18 younger adults were compared on two quantitati ve measures describing changes over time in the spatial distribution of run ning EEG. EEG was collected from 128 electrodes under resting eyes-opec and eyes-closed conditions and during performance of a 13 minute sustained att ention task. One EEG measure, the recrudescence rate, represented the numbe r of changes in the location of the highest squared voltage per second. A s econd EEG measure consisted of the algorithmic complexity of changes in the location of the highest squared voltage over time. Regardless of the task condition, older adults had significantly higher scores than younger adults on both the recrudescence rate and the mea sure of algorithmic complexity. The implications of the results for neurologically-based theories of perfo rmance declines in older adults are discussed.