The impact of auditory distraction on visual memory encoding in older adults

In everyday life, we are constantly required to manage multiple tasks at once. Stimulus-rich environments force us to process diverse streams of information in parallel, putting our cognitive resources to the test. However, the natural cognitive decline associated with aging can reduce the ability to effectively handle multitasking situations, especially when memory is involved.
To investigate this issue, a recent study conducted by Fiorella Del Popolo Cristaldi and collaborators involved fifty participants aged between 48 and 72 in a dual-task paradigm that combined a visual memory task with a sustained auditory attention task. At the same time, brain activity was recorded using high-density electroencephalography (HD-EEG) to examine the impact of auditory distraction on visual memory encoding at both behavioural and neurophysiological levels.
The results showed that multitasking impaired memory performance, with a greater impact observed in older participants, who also reported lower confidence in their abilities. At the neurophysiological level, the dual-task condition was associated with an increase in the subsequent memory effect (SME) and theta synchronization, both indicators of heightened cognitive effort. Source localization analysis further revealed the involvement of the left orbitofrontal gyrus and the superior temporal gyrus during memory encoding under distraction. Finally, increased resting-state theta synchronization was linked to poorer performance among the older participants, suggesting a decline in neural efficiency with age. Overall, these findings demonstrate that multitasking interferes with memory encoding and requires substantial neural recruitment to meet cognitive demands.

Article: Del Popolo Cristaldi, F., Saccani, M. S., Contemori, G., Livoti, V., & Bonato, M. (2025). The Impact of Auditory Distraction on Visual Memory Encoding in Middle-aged and Older Adults: A High-density EEG Study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 1-30

https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_02330