An ERP study of famous face incongruity detection in middle age

Age-related changes in famous face incongruity detection were examined in m iddle-aged (mean = 50.6) and young (mean = 24.8) subjects. Behavioral and E RP responses were recorded while subjects, after a presentation of a "prime face" (a famous person with the eyes masked), had to decide whether the fo llowing ''test face" was completed with its authentic eyes (congruent) or w ith other eyes (incongruent). The principal effects of advancing age were ( I)behavioral difficulties in discriminating between incongruent and congrue nt faces; (2) a reduced N400 effect due to N400 enhancement for both congru ent and incongruent faces: (3) a latency increase of both N400 and P600 com ponents. ERPs to primes (face encoding) were not affected by aging. These r esults are interpreted in terms of early signs of aging. (C) 2001 Academic Press.