Effects of aging on P300 between late young-age and early middle-age adulthood: an electroencephalogram event-related potential study.

The aim of this study was to identify age-related changes of P300 peak amplitude and P300 latency between closely separated nonsenile age groups (late young-aged adults and early middle-aged adults) and to investigate whether or not P300 has the potential to be used as a measure of cognitive aging even among nonsenile age groups. Twenty-eight adults (25-55 years old) completed an event-related potential oddball task. The elicitation of both P300 peak amplitude and P300 latency indicated age-related changes of P300. The results of the study showed that the P300 target peak amplitude was significantly larger in late young age compared with early middle age and that P300 target latency was also significantly delayed in early middle age compared with late young age. The results of this work contribute toward research efforts on a consensus on how aging affects event-related potential and/or P300. The main conclusions are that there exist significant age-related P300 changes even between closely separated, relatively younger, and nonsenile age groups, and that P300 has the potential to be used as a measure for cognitive aging even in nonsenile adults.