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

Pepper, Jessica L. and Yao, Bo and Braithwaite, Jason J. and Bampouras, Theodoros M. and Nuttall, Helen E. (2025) Age-Related Changes in the Attentional Modulation of Multisensory Integration in Relation to Balance Maintenance. NeuroImage: 121671. ISSN 1053-8119 (In Press)

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.