Virtual Apartment-Based Stroop for assessing distractor inhibition in healthy aging

Executive functioning declines found in healthy aging may impact negatively on everyday activities. Inhibitory control is an executive function that involves the preclusion of irrelevant information and prohibition of prepotent responses. Decreased inhibitory control has been suggested as a feature of age-related cognitive decline. In this study, we compared a Virtual Apartment Stroop Task with paper-and-pencil and computerized Stroop modalities in older adults and young adults. The primary results were (a) within groups the classic "Stroop pattern" found in traditional modalities (e.g., paper-and-pencil; computer automated) was observed in the Virtual Apartment Stroop Task; (b) the Virtual Apartment "Stroop scores" between groups were consistent with significant differences found between older adults and young adults on the paper-and-pencil and computerized Stroop tasks; and (c) individuals in the older adult cohort performed significantly more poorly on the Virtual Apartment Stroop Task than did participants in the young adult cohort. These results suggest the potential of the Virtual Apartment Stroop Task to distinguish between prepotent response inhibition and resistance to distractor inhibition in aging adults.