Age-related differences in interference control in the context of a finger-lifting task: an fMRI study

Humans tend to automatically imitate others and their actions whilst also being able to control such imitative tendencies. Interference control, necessary to suppress own imitative tendencies, develops rapidly in childhood and adolescence, plateaus in adulthood, and slowly declines with advancing age. It remains to be shown though, which neural processes underpin these differences across the lifespan. In a cross-sectional fMRI study with three age groups (adolescents 14-17 years, young adults 21-31, older adults 56-76, N=91 healthy female participants), we investigated the behavioral and neural correlates of interference control in the context of automatic imitation using the finger-lifting task. Adolescents showed the most efficient interference control, while no significant differences emerged between young and older adults, despite older adults showing longer reaction times. On the neural level, all age groups showed engagement of rTPJ, rSMG, and bilateral Insula, aligning well with studies previously using this task. However, our analyses did not reveal any age-related differences in brain activation, neither in these nor in other areas. This suggest that adolescents might have a more efficient use of the engaged brain networks, and on the other hand, older adults' capacity for interference control and the associated brain functions might be largely preserved.