Effect of Scrabble© Expertise on Brain Ageing as Measured with Brain Signal Variability and Event-Related Potentials
Abstract
We examined the effect of Scrabble expertise on brain ageing using brain signal variability as measured with multiscale entropy (MSE) and brain signal mean as measured with event-related potentials (ERP). We collected ERP data while age-matched Scrabble experts and controls (age range: 24 to 83) performed an expertise-related task (lexical decision task; LDT) and a non-expertise-related task (symbol decision task; SDT). During both tasks, fine-scale MSE increased with age for both groups, suggesting that short-range neural communication increases with age. Midscale MSE increased with age for experts but decreased for controls, suggesting that longer-range neural communication is maintained through older age for experts but not for controls. In addition, experts did not show the typical age-related decrease in frontal P300 amplitude. However, all age-related effects, regardless of direction, were associated with worse performance in both groups. This study provides a better understanding of how expertise affects brain ageing.
Description
Keywords
Psychology, Psychology--Cognitive, Psychology--Experimental
Citation
Wang, H. (2016). Effect of Scrabble© Expertise on Brain Ageing as Measured with Brain Signal Variability and Event-Related Potentials (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25808