Age-Related Changes in the Attentional Modulation of Multisensory Integration in Relation to Balance Maintenance

Pepper, JL, Yao, B, Braithwaite, JJ, Bampouras, TM ORCID: 0000-0002-8991-4655 and Nuttall, HE (2025) Age-Related Changes in the Attentional Modulation of Multisensory Integration in Relation to Balance Maintenance. NeuroImage, 326. ISSN 1053-8119

Preview

Text Age-related changes in the attentional modulation of multisensory integration in relation to balance maintenance.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

Ageing is associated with increased multisensory integration and reduced attentional control during audiovisual processing, which can lead to inaccurate representations of dynamic environments and may contribute to fall risk in older adults. Alpha-band oscillatory activity (8-12 Hz), commonly interpreted as an index of inhibitory attentional control, is a plausible neural mechanism underlying age-related differences in multisensory attention. Here, we tested whether alterations in alpha oscillatory dynamics account for reduced attentional modulation of audiovisual integration in ageing, and whether these neural signatures relate to measures of fall risk. Thirty-six younger adults (18-35 years) and thirty-six older adults (60-80 years) completed a cued spatial-attention stream-bounce task assessing audiovisual integration at validly and invalidly cued locations, with stimulus-onset asynchronies of 0 ms and 300 ms. Concurrent EEG was recorded to quantify task-related alpha-band activity as a marker of inhibitory control. Balance and postural sway were assessed as indices of fall risk. Behaviourally, both age groups showed comparable attentional modulation of audiovisual integration. In contrast, electrophysiological data revealed age-related differences in neural control mechanisms: younger adults exhibited clear, cue-dependent modulation of alpha power, whereas older adults did not show such modulation. These findings demonstrate a dissociation between preserved behavioural performance and altered neural control mechanisms in ageing, highlighting the importance of neural measures for revealing age-related changes in attentional control that are not evident from behaviour alone. Together, these results implicate reduced flexibility of alpha-mediated inhibitory processes linking attentional control, multisensory processing, and balance in ageing.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	ageing; alpha; attention; balance; falls; multisensory; 32 Biomedical and Clinical Sciences; 42 Health Sciences; Clinical Research; Basic Behavioral and Social Science; Behavioral and Social Science; Aging; Neurosciences; 1.2 Psychological and socioeconomic processes; 1.1 Normal biological development and functioning; 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors; Neurological; Mental health; 11 Medical and Health Sciences; 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences; Neurology & Neurosurgery; 32 Biomedical and clinical sciences; 42 Health sciences
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Divisions:	Sport and Exercise Sciences
Publisher:	Elsevier BV
Date of acceptance:	18 December 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	14 January 2026
Date Deposited:	14 Jan 2026 11:52
Last Modified:	14 Jan 2026 11:52
DOI or ID number:	10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121671
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/27907

View Item