Older adults, unlike younger adults, do not modulate alpha power to suppress irrelevant information

► We study the neural mechanisms younger and older adults use to ignore stimuli. ► Here, younger and older adults both successfully ignored irrelevant stimuli. ► Younger adults use increased alpha power to suppress irrelevant stimuli. ► Suppressing stimulus processing in older adults does not require alpha modulation. ► When older adults filter inputs they use different strategies than younger adults.