Neurophysiological Mechanisms of Slowed Perceptual Processing in Healthy Ageing and Stroke

Older adults often take longer to respond to their environment. In my thesis I used EEG (which measures brain signals) to understand why this occurs in both healthy older adults and stroke patients. Age-related difficulties were attributable to taking longer to gather information from the environment, while those with stroke took longer to notice relevant information from the side opposite to their stroke. Also, signals that related to neurons going ‘offline’ were more common after stroke, suggesting the brain is more easily fatigued. These findings may help us to design rehabilitation strategies that are targeted at specific, dysfunctional brain signals.