Performance on frontal lobe tests in healthy, older individuals

Abstract

Changes with age in cognitive abilities subserved by the frontal lobes have not been well studied, and the existing research has been contradictory, possibly due to uncontrolled effects of medical and psychiatric illness. The purpose of this study was to compare performance of healthy middle‐aged and older individuals on four frontal lobe tests (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Test, Auditory Consonant Trigrams, and Verbal Fluency) to provide information regarding age differences in frontal lobe abilities. Data were obtained on 61 individuals screened for the absence of significant medical, neurologic, and psychiatric illness grouped by three age decades: 50–59, 60–69, and 70–79. Few statistically significant differences were found between groups, suggesting that in a medically and psychiatrically healthy population of older adults, minimal evidence of age differences in frontal lobe abilities can be documented.