Selective attentional processing and the right hemisphere: effects of aging and alcoholism

Thirty-seven nonalcoholic individuals (22 women, 15 men), ages 26-76, and 3 6 abstinent alcoholic individuals (11 women, 25 men), ages 31-74, participa ted in a cued-detection task that assessed right hemisphere (RH) functionin g associated with aging and alcoholism. Young controls were less reliant on cues following RH activation, which is consistent with the view that the R H has an advantage because it has the ability to attend to a broader spatia l array than does the left hemisphere (LH). This RH advantage was not obtai ned in older controls or alcoholic participants. The pattern of results for the older nonalcoholic participants indicated that they neither benefited from valid cues following LH activation nor exhibited enhanced processing o n invalid cue trials following RH activation. The results for the alcoholic participants were consistent with RH functional decline, but did not suppo rt the view that alcoholism and aging have synergistic effects.