1
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Mızrak HG, Dikmen M, Hanoğlu L, Şakul BU. Investigation of hemispheric asymmetry in Alzheimer's disease patients during resting state revealed BY fNIRS. Sci Rep 2024; 14:13454. [PMID: 38862632 PMCID: PMC11166983 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-62281-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2024] [Indexed: 06/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by the gradual deterioration of brain structures and changes in hemispheric asymmetry. Meanwhile, healthy aging is associated with a decrease in functional hemispheric asymmetry. In this study, functional connectivity analysis was used to compare the functional hemispheric asymmetry in eyes-open resting-state fNIRS data of 16 healthy elderly controls (mean age: 60.4 years, MMSE (Mini-Mental State Examination): 27.3 ± 2.52) and 14 Alzheimer's patients (mean age: 73.8 years, MMSE: 22 ± 4.32). Increased interhemispheric functional connectivity was found in the premotor cortex, supplementary motor cortex, primary motor cortex, inferior parietal cortex, primary somatosensory cortex, and supramarginal gyrus in the control group compared to the AD group. The study revealed that the control group had stronger interhemispheric connectivity, leading to a more significant decrease in hemispheric asymmetry than the AD group. The results show that there is a difference in interhemispheric functional connections at rest between the Alzheimer's group and the control group, suggesting that functional hemispheric asymmetry continues in Alzheimer's patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hazel Gül Mızrak
- Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Merve Dikmen
- Regenerative and Restorative Medicine Research Center (REMER), Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technologies (SABITA), Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey.
- Program of Electroneurophysiology, Vocational School of Health Services, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey.
| | - Lütfü Hanoğlu
- Regenerative and Restorative Medicine Research Center (REMER), Research Institute for Health Sciences and Technologies (SABITA), Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey
- Department of Neurology, Istanbul Medipol University Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Bayram Ufuk Şakul
- Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey
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2
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McMorris T, Hale BJ, Pine BS, Williams TB. Creatine supplementation research fails to support the theoretical basis for an effect on cognition: Evidence from a systematic review. Behav Brain Res 2024; 466:114982. [PMID: 38582412 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2024.114982] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2023] [Revised: 02/15/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 04/08/2024]
Abstract
Creatine supplementation has been put forward as a possible aid to cognition, particularly for vegans, vegetarians, the elderly, sleep deprived and hypoxic individuals. However, previous narrative reviews have only provided limited support for these claims. This is despite the fact that research has shown that creatine supplementation can induce increased brain concentrations of creatine, albeit to a limited extent. We carried out a systematic review to examine the current state of affairs. The review supported claims that creatine supplementation can increases brain creatine content but also demonstrated somewhat equivocal results for effects on cognition. It does, however, provide evidence to suggest that more research is required with stressed populations, as supplementation does appear to significantly affect brain content. Issues with research design, especially supplementation regimens, need to be addressed. Future research must include measurements of creatine brain content.
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Affiliation(s)
- Terry McMorris
- Institue of Sport, Nursing and Allied Health, University of Chichester, College Lane, Chichester PO19 6PE, United Kingdom; Department of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Portsmouth, Spinnaker Building, Cambridge Road, Portsmouth PO12ER, United Kingdom.
| | - Beverley J Hale
- Institue of Sport, Nursing and Allied Health, University of Chichester, College Lane, Chichester PO19 6PE, United Kingdom
| | - Beatrice S Pine
- Institue of Sport, Nursing and Allied Health, University of Chichester, College Lane, Chichester PO19 6PE, United Kingdom
| | - Thomas B Williams
- Department of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Portsmouth, Spinnaker Building, Cambridge Road, Portsmouth PO12ER, United Kingdom
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3
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Creighton SE, Bennett PJ, Sekuler AB. Contribution of internal noise and calculation efficiency to face discrimination deficits in older adults. Vision Res 2024; 216:108348. [PMID: 38176083 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2023.108348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2023] [Revised: 12/11/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024]
Abstract
Classification images (CIs) measured in a face discrimination task differ significantly between older and younger observers. These age differences are consistent with the hypothesis that older adults sample diagnostic face information less efficiently, or have higher levels of internal noise, compared to younger adults. The current experiments assessed the relative contributions of efficiency and internal noise to age differences in face discrimination using the external noise masking and double-pass response consistency paradigms. Experiment 1 measured discrimination thresholds for faces embedded in several levels of static white noise, and the resulting threshold-vs.-noise curves were used to estimate calculation efficiency and equivalent input noise: older observers had lower efficiency and higher equivalent input noise than younger observers. Experiment 2 presented observers with two identical sequences of faces embedded in static white noise to measure the association between response accuracy and response consistency and estimate the internal:external (i/e) noise ratio for each observer. We found that i/e noise ratios did not differ significantly between groups. These results suggest that age differences in face discrimination are due to differences in calculation efficiency and additive internal noise, but not to age differences in multiplicative internal noise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah E Creighton
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
| | - Patrick J Bennett
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
| | - Allison B Sekuler
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada; Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
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4
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Hanley CJ, Burns N, Thomas HR, Marstaller L, Burianová H. The effects of age bias on neural correlates of successful and unsuccessful response inhibition in younger and older adults. Neurobiol Aging 2023; 131:1-10. [PMID: 37535985 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2023.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2022] [Revised: 07/04/2023] [Accepted: 07/04/2023] [Indexed: 08/05/2023]
Abstract
Facilitating communication between generations has become increasingly important. However, individuals often demonstrate a preference for their own age group, which can impact social interactions, and such bias in young adults even extends to inhibitory control. To assess whether older adults also experience this phenomenon, a group of younger and older adults completed a Go/NoGo task incorporating young and old faces, while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Within the networks subserving successful and unsuccessful response inhibition, patterns of activity demonstrated distinct neural age bias effects in each age group. During successful inhibition, the older adult group demonstrated significantly increased activity to other-age faces, whereas unsuccessful inhibition in the younger group produced significantly enhanced activity to other-age faces. Consequently, the findings of the study confirm that neural responses to successful and unsuccessful inhibition can be contingent on the stimulus-specific attribute of age in both younger and older adults. These findings have important implications in regard to minimizing the emergence of negative consequences, such as ageism, as a result of related implicit biases.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Natasha Burns
- School of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, UK; Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, UK
| | - Hannah R Thomas
- School of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, UK; Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Lars Marstaller
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, UK
| | - Hana Burianová
- School of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea, UK; Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, UK; Centre for Advanced Imaging, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
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5
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Effects of aging on face processing: An ERP study of the own-age bias with neutral and emotional faces. Cortex 2023; 161:13-25. [PMID: 36878097 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.01.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Revised: 07/25/2022] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/20/2023]
Abstract
Older adults systematically show an enhanced N170 amplitude during the visualization of facial expressions of emotion. The present study aimed to replicate this finding, further investigating if this effect is specific to facial stimuli, present in other neural correlates of face processing, and modulated by own-age faces. To this purpose, younger (n = 25; Mage = 28.36), middle-aged (n = 23; Mage = 48.74), and older adults (n = 25; Mage = 67.36) performed two face/emotion identification tasks during an EEG recording. The results showed that groups did not differ regarding P100 amplitude, but older adults had increased N170 amplitude for both facial and non-facial stimuli. The event-related potentials analysed were not modulated by an own-age bias, but older faces elicited larger N170 in the Emotion Identification Task for all groups. This increased amplitude may reflect a higher ambiguity of older faces due to age-related changes in their physical features, which may elicit higher neural resources to decode. Regarding P250, older faces elicited decreased amplitudes than younger faces, which may reflect a reduced processing of the emotional content of older faces. This interpretation is consistent with the lower accuracy obtained for this category of stimuli across groups. These results have important social implications and suggest that aging may hamper the neural processing of facial expressions of emotion, especially for own-age peers.
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6
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Jiang J, Fan L, Liu J. The knowledge domain of cognitive neuroscience of aging: A Scientometric and bibliometric analysis. Front Aging Neurosci 2023; 15:999594. [PMID: 36845653 PMCID: PMC9947251 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.999594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2022] [Accepted: 01/10/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Cognitive neuroscience of aging (CNA) is a relatively young field compared with other branches of cognitive aging (CA). From the beginning of this century, scholars in CNA have contributed many valuable research to explain the cognitive ability decline in aging brains in terms of functional changes, neuromechanism, and neurodegenerative diseases. However, very few studies have systematically reviewed the research in the domain of CAN, with regard to its primary research topics, theories, findings, and future development. Therefore, this study used CiteSpace to conduct a bibliometric analysis of 1,462 published articles in CNA from Web of Science (WOS) and investigated the highly influential and potential research topics and theories of CNA, as well as important brain areas involved in CAN during 2000-2021. The results revealed that: (1) the research topics of "memory" and "attention" have been the focus of most studies, progressing into a fMRI-oriented stage; (2) the scaffolding theory and hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults model hold a key status in CNA, characterizing aging as a dynamic process and presenting compensatory relationships between different brain areas; and (3) age-related changes always occur in temporal (especially the hippocampus), parietal, and frontal lobes and the cognitive declines establish the compensation relationship between the anterior and posterior regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaxing Jiang
- Research Institute of Foreign Language, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Haidian, Beijing, China
| | - Lin Fan
- National Research Center for Foreign Language Education, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Haidian, Beijing, China,*Correspondence: Lin Fan,
| | - Jia Liu
- School of Foreign Studies, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang, China
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7
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Logan AJ, Gordon GE, Loffler G. Healthy aging impairs face discrimination ability. J Vis 2022; 22:1. [PMID: 35913420 PMCID: PMC9351597 DOI: 10.1167/jov.22.9.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2022] [Accepted: 07/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Face images enable individual identities to be discriminated from one another. We aimed to quantify age-related changes in different aspects of face identity discrimination. Face discrimination sensitivity was measured with a memory-free "odd-one-out" task. Five age groups (N = 15) of healthy adults with normal vision were tested: 20, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, and 80-89. Sensitivity was measured for full-face images (all features visible), external features (head-shape, hairline), internal features (nose, mouth, eyes, and eyebrows) and closed-contour shapes (control object). Sensitivity to full-faces continuously declined by approximately 13% per decade, after 50 years of age. When age-related differences in visual acuity were controlled, the effect of age on face discrimination sensitivity remained. Sensitivity to face features also deteriorated with age. Although the effect for external features was similar to full-faces, the rate of decline was considerably steeper (approximately 3.7 times) for internal, relative to external, features. In contrast, there was no effect of age on sensitivity to shapes. All age groups demonstrated the same overall pattern of sensitivity to different types of face information. Healthy aging was associated with a continuous decline in sensitivity to both full-faces and face features, although encoding of internal features was disproportionately impaired. This age-related deficit was independent of differences in low-level vision. That sensitivity to shapes was unaffected by age suggests these results cannot be explained by general cognitive decline or lower-level visual deficits. Instead, healthy aging is associated with a specific decline in the mechanisms that underlie face discrimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew J Logan
- Department of Vision Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK
- School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK
| | - Gael E Gordon
- Department of Vision Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK
| | - Gunter Loffler
- Department of Vision Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK
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8
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Zapparoli L, Mariano M, Paulesu E. How the motor system copes with aging: a quantitative meta-analysis of the effect of aging on motor function control. Commun Biol 2022; 5:79. [PMID: 35058549 PMCID: PMC8776875 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03027-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2021] [Accepted: 12/27/2021] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Motor cognitive functions and their neurophysiology evolve and degrade along the lifespan in a dramatic fashion. Current models of how the brain adapts to aging remain inspired primarily by studies on memory or language processes. Yet, aging is strongly associated with reduced motor independence and the associated degraded interaction with the environment: accordingly, any neurocognitive model of aging not considering the motor system is, ipso facto, incomplete. Here we present a meta-analysis of forty functional brain-imaging studies to address aging effects on motor control. Our results indicate that motor control is associated with aging-related changes in brain activity, involving not only motoric brain regions but also posterior areas such as the occipito-temporal cortex. Notably, some of these differences depend on the specific nature of the motor task and the level of performance achieved by the participants. These findings support neurocognitive models of aging that make fewer anatomical assumptions while also considering tasks-dependent and performance-dependent manifestations. Besides the theoretical implications, the present data also provide additional information for the motor rehabilitation domain, indicating that motor control is a more complex phenomenon than previously understood, to which separate cognitive operations can contribute and decrease in different ways with aging. Many aspects of neuronal control degrade with ageing, including motor control. Using a meta-analysis of functional MRI images, it is made apparent that the ageing brain relies more on visual strategies than sensory stimuli to maintain motor function.
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9
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Tagliabue CF, Varesio G, Mazza V. Inter- and Intra-Hemispheric Age-Related Remodeling in Visuo-Spatial Working Memory. Front Aging Neurosci 2022; 13:807907. [PMID: 35111040 PMCID: PMC8803153 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.807907] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Electroencephalography (EEG) studies investigating visuo-spatial working memory (vWM) in aging typically adopt an event-related potential (ERP) analysis approach that has shed light on the age-related changes during item retention and retrieval. However, this approach does not fully enable a detailed description of the time course of the neural dynamics related to aging. The most frequent age-related changes in brain activity have been described by two influential models of neurocognitive aging, the Hemispheric Asymmetry Reduction in Older Adults (HAROLD) and the Posterior-Anterior Shift in Aging (PASA). These models posit that older adults tend to recruit additional brain areas (bilateral as predicted by HAROLD and anterior as predicted by PASA) when performing several cognitive tasks. We tested younger (N = 36) and older adults (N = 35) in a typical vWM task (delayed match-to-sample) where participants have to retain items and then compare them to a sample. Through a data-driven whole scalp EEG analysis we aimed at characterizing the temporal dynamics of the age-related activations predicted by the two models, both across and within different stages of stimulus processing. Behaviorally, younger outperformed older adults. The EEG analysis showed that older adults engaged supplementary bilateral posterior and frontal sites when processing different levels of memory load, in line with both HAROLD and PASA-like activations. Interestingly, these age-related supplementary activations dynamically developed over time. Indeed, they varied across different stages of stimulus processing, with HAROLD-like modulations being mainly present during item retention, and PASA-like activity during both retention and retrieval. Overall, the present results suggest that age-related neural changes are not a phenomenon indiscriminately present throughout all levels of cognitive processing.
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10
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Ren Y, Li H, Li Y, Wang T, Yang W. Visual Perceptual Load Attenuates Age-Related Audiovisual Integration in an Audiovisual Discrimination Task. Front Psychol 2021; 12:740221. [PMID: 34659055 PMCID: PMC8511317 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.740221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies confirmed that the cognitive resources are limited for each person, and perceptual load affects the detection of stimulus greatly; however, how the visual perceptual load influences audiovisual integration (AVI) is still unclear. Here, 20 older and 20 younger adults were recruited to perform an auditory/visual discrimination task under various visual perceptual-load conditions. The analysis for the response times revealed a significantly faster response to the audiovisual stimulus than to the visual stimulus or auditory stimulus (all p < 0.001), and a significantly slower response by the older adults than by the younger adults to all targets (all p ≤ 0.024). The race-model analysis revealed a higher AV facilitation effect for older (12.54%) than for younger (7.08%) adults under low visual perceptual-load conditions; however, no obvious difference was found between younger (2.92%) and older (3.06%) adults under medium visual perceptual-load conditions. Only the AV depression effect was found for both younger and older adults under high visual perceptual-load conditions. Additionally, the peak latencies of AVI were significantly delayed in older adults under all visual perceptual-load conditions. These results suggested that visual perceptual load decreased AVI (i.e., depression effects), and the AVI effect was increased but delayed for older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanna Ren
- Department of Psychology, College of Humanities and Management, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, China
| | - Hannan Li
- University Science Park Management Center, Guiyang University, Guiyang, China
| | - Yan Li
- Department of Psychology, College of Humanities and Management, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guiyang, China
| | - Tao Wang
- Department of Light and Chemical Engineering, Guizhou Light Industry Technical College, Guiyang, China
| | - Weiping Yang
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Hubei University, Wuhan, China
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11
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Heckner MK, Cieslik EC, Eickhoff SB, Camilleri JA, Hoffstaedter F, Langner R. The Aging Brain and Executive Functions Revisited: Implications from Meta-analytic and Functional-Connectivity Evidence. J Cogn Neurosci 2021; 33:1716-1752. [PMID: 32762523 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01616] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Healthy aging is associated with changes in cognitive performance, including executive functions (EFs) and their associated brain activation patterns. However, it has remained unclear which EF-related brain regions are affected consistently, because the results of pertinent neuroimaging studies and earlier meta-analyses vary considerably. We, therefore, conducted new rigorous meta-analyses of published age differences in EF-related brain activity. Out of a larger set of regions associated with EFs, only left inferior frontal junction and left anterior cuneus/precuneus were found to show consistent age differences. To further characterize these two age-sensitive regions, we performed seed-based resting-state functional connectivity (RS-FC) analyses using fMRI data from a large adult sample with a wide age range. We also assessed associations of the two regions' whole-brain RS-FC patterns with age and EF performance. Although our results largely point toward a domain-general role of left inferior frontal junction in EFs, the pattern of individual study contributions to the meta-analytic results suggests process-specific modulations by age. Our analyses further indicate that the left anterior cuneus/precuneus is recruited differently by older (compared with younger) adults during EF tasks, potentially reflecting inefficiencies in switching the attentional focus. Overall, our findings question earlier meta-analytic results and suggest a larger heterogeneity of age-related differences in brain activity associated with EFs. Hence, they encourage future research that pays greater attention to replicability, investigates age-related differences in deactivation, and focuses on more narrowly defined EF subprocesses, combining multiple behavioral assessments with multimodal imaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marisa K Heckner
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Centre Jülich.,Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
| | - Edna C Cieslik
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Centre Jülich.,Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
| | - Simon B Eickhoff
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Centre Jülich.,Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
| | - Julia A Camilleri
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Centre Jülich.,Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
| | - Felix Hoffstaedter
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Centre Jülich.,Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
| | - Robert Langner
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Centre Jülich.,Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
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12
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Fettrow T, Hupfeld K, Tays G, Clark DJ, Reuter-Lorenz PA, Seidler RD. Brain activity during walking in older adults: Implications for compensatory versus dysfunctional accounts. Neurobiol Aging 2021; 105:349-364. [PMID: 34182403 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.05.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2020] [Revised: 05/19/2021] [Accepted: 05/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
A prominent trend in the functional brain imaging literature is that older adults exhibit increased brain activity compared to young adults to perform a given task. This phenomenon has been extensively studied for cognitive tasks, with the field converging on interpretations described in two alternative accounts. One account interprets over-activation in older adults as reflecting neural dysfunction (increased brain activity - indicates poorer performance), whereas another interprets it as neural compensation (increased brain activity - supports better performance). Here we review studies that have recorded brain activity and walking measurements in older adults, and we categorize their findings as reflecting either neural dysfunction or neural compensation. Based on this synthesis, we recommend including multiple task difficulty levels in future work to help differentiate if and when compensation fails as the locomotion task becomes more difficult. Using multiple task difficulty levels with neuroimaging will lead to a more advanced understanding of how age-related changes in locomotor brain activity fit with existing accounts of brain aging and support the development of targeted neural rehabilitation techniques.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tyler Fettrow
- Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
| | - Kathleen Hupfeld
- Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Grant Tays
- Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - David J Clark
- Department of Aging and Geriatric Research, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA; Brain Rehabilitation Research Center, Malcom Randall VA Medical Center, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | | | - Rachael D Seidler
- Department of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA; Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
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13
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Delvenne JF, Scally B, Bunce D, Burke MR. Splenium tracts of the corpus callosum degrade in old age. Neurosci Lett 2021; 742:135549. [PMID: 33285249 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2020.135549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2020] [Revised: 11/25/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
It is well established that the posterior region of the corpus callosum, known as the splenium, is relatively preserved during the course of normal ageing. However, the effect of age on its distinct interhemispheric tract bundles that project to bilateral occipital, parietal and temporal areas of the cortex, is largely unknown. In the present study, diffusion tensor imaging was used to directly examine the integrity of these distinct segregations and their diffusion metrics were compared between groups of young adults (n = 20, mean age = 30.75) and older adults (n = 19, mean age = 80.21). Results revealed that while occipital tracts were preserved in older adults, parietal and temporal segments were particularly impaired. These findings are the first to indicate the existence of selective alterations in the posterior region of the corpus callosum in older age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Francois Delvenne
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom.
| | - Brian Scally
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
| | - David Bunce
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
| | - Melanie Rose Burke
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
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14
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Grady CL, Rieck JR, Nichol D, Garrett DD. Functional Connectivity within and beyond the Face Network Is Related to Reduced Discrimination of Degraded Faces in Young and Older Adults. Cereb Cortex 2020; 30:6206-6223. [DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2020] [Revised: 05/08/2020] [Accepted: 05/26/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Degrading face stimuli reduces face discrimination in both young and older adults, but the brain correlates of this decline in performance are not fully understood. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the effects of degraded face stimuli on face and nonface brain networks and tested whether these changes would predict the linear declines seen in performance. We found decreased activity in the face network (FN) and a decrease in the similarity of functional connectivity (FC) in the FN across conditions as degradation increased but no effect of age. FC in whole-brain networks also changed with increasing degradation, including increasing FC between the visual network and cognitive control networks. Older adults showed reduced modulation of this whole-brain FC pattern. The strongest predictors of within-participant decline in accuracy were changes in whole-brain network FC and FC similarity of the FN. There was no influence of age on these brain-behavior relations. These results suggest that a systems-level approach beyond the FN is required to understand the brain correlates of performance decline when faces are obscured with noise. In addition, the association between brain and behavior changes was maintained into older age, despite the dampened FC response to face degradation seen in older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheryl L Grady
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, ON M6A2E1, Canada
- Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Jenny R Rieck
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, ON M6A2E1, Canada
| | - Daniel Nichol
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, ON M6A2E1, Canada
| | - Douglas D Garrett
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
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15
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Turner MP, Fischer H, Sivakolundu DK, Hubbard NA, Zhao Y, Rypma B, Bäckman L. Age-differential relationships among dopamine D1 binding potential, fusiform BOLD signal, and face-recognition performance. Neuroimage 2020; 206:116232. [PMID: 31593794 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2019] [Accepted: 09/26/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Facial recognition ability declines in adult aging, but the neural basis for this decline remains unknown. Cortical areas involved in face recognition exhibit lower dopamine (DA) receptor availability and lower blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal during task performance with advancing adult age. We hypothesized that changes in the relationship between these two neural systems are related to age differences in face-recognition ability. To test this hypothesis, we leveraged positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure D1 receptor binding potential (BPND) and BOLD signal during face-recognition performance. Twenty younger and 20 older participants performed a face-recognition task during fMRI scanning. Face recognition accuracy was lower in older than in younger adults, as were D1 BPND and BOLD signal across the brain. Using linear regression, significant relationships between DA and BOLD were found in both age-groups in face-processing regions. Interestingly, although the relationship was positive in younger adults, it was negative in older adults (i.e., as D1 BPND decreased, BOLD signal increased). Ratios of BOLD:D1 BPND were calculated and relationships to face-recognition performance were tested. Multiple linear regression revealed a significant Group × BOLD:D1 BPND Ratio interaction. These results suggest that, in the healthy system, synchrony between neurotransmitter (DA) and hemodynamic (BOLD) systems optimizes the level of BOLD activation evoked for a given DA input (i.e., the gain parameter of the DA input-neural activation function), facilitating task performance. In the aged system, however, desynchronization between these brain systems would reduce the gain parameter of this function, adversely impacting task performance and contributing to reduced face recognition in older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monroe P Turner
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA.
| | - Håkan Fischer
- Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Dinesh K Sivakolundu
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA
| | - Nicholas A Hubbard
- Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
| | - Yuguang Zhao
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA
| | - Bart Rypma
- School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Lars Bäckman
- Aging Research Center, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
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16
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Hill C, Van Gemmert AWA, Fang Q, Hou L, Wang J, Pan Z. Asymmetry in the aging brain: A narrative review of cortical activation patterns and implications for motor function. Laterality 2019; 25:413-429. [PMID: 31875769 DOI: 10.1080/1357650x.2019.1707219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Age-related changes have been identified in neural and motor level. A prominent change is reduced asymmetry in cortical activation as well as motor performance. Cortical activation models have been established based on cognitive research utilizing neuroimaging techniques to explain age-related effects on neural recruitment and reduced brain asymmetry. Recently, researchers in motor behaviour attempted to apply the models to explain motor pattern changes in aging and proposed compensation as the mechanism of the reduced motor asymmetry in older adults. Age-related alterations in movement patterns and brain activations seem to be correlated. However, based on the literature search result, no direct evidence substantiates the connection between reduced brain asymmetry and motor asymmetry in older adults. Therefore, a theoretical gap was identified. The theoretical gap exists because either neuroimaging studies have not considered motor asymmetry or motor asymmetry studies have not integrated neuroimaging techniques into study designs. Answering the research question can be valuable to both research and clinical practice. With the mechanisms of brain activation patterns during motor tasks in an aging population being better understood, protocols developed upon the new understandings can be applied to current motor interventions and better maintain the longevity of motor function of older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Hill
- Department of Kinesiology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA.,Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA
| | | | - Qun Fang
- Department of Kinesiology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA
| | - Lijuan Hou
- College of Physical Education and Sports, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Jun Wang
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA
| | - Zhujun Pan
- Department of Kinesiology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA
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17
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Nair S, Nenert RE, Allendorfer JB, Goodman AM, Vannest J, Mirman D, Szaflarski JP. Sex, Age, and Handedness Modulate the Neural Correlates of Active Learning. Front Neurosci 2019; 13:961. [PMID: 31572114 PMCID: PMC6749092 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00961] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2019] [Accepted: 08/27/2019] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Self-generation of material compared to passive learning results in mproved memory performance; this may be related to recruitment of a fronto-temporal encoding network. Using a verbal paired-associate learning fMRI task, we examined the effects of sex, age, and handedness on the neural correlates of self-generation. METHODS Data from 174 healthy English-speaking participants (78M, 56 atypically handed; ages 19-76) were preprocessed using AFNI and FSL. Independent component analysis was conducted using GIFT (Group ICA fMRI Toolbox). Forty-one independent components were temporally sorted by task time series. Retaining correlations (r > 0.25) resulted in three task-positive ("generate") and three task-negative ("read") components. Using participants' back-projected components, we evaluated the effects of sex, handedness, and aging on activation lateralization and localization in task-relevant networks with two-sample t-tests. Further, we examined the linear relationship between sex and neuroimaging data with multiple regression, covarying for scanner, age, and handedness. RESULTS Task-positive components identified using ICA revealed a fronto-parietal network involved with self-generation, while task-negative components reflecting passive reading showed temporo-occipital involvement. Compared to older adults, younger adults exhibited greater task-positive involvement of the left inferior frontal gyrus and insula, whereas older adults exhibited reduced prefrontal lateralization. Greater involvement of the left angular gyrus in task-positive encoding networks among right-handed individuals suggests the reliance on left dominant semantic processing areas may be modulated by handedness. Sex effects on task-related encoding networks while controlling for age and handedness suggest increased right hemisphere recruitment among males compared to females, specifically in the paracentral lobe during self-generation and the suparmarginal gyrus during passive reading. IMPLICATIONS Identified neuroimaging differences suggest that sex, age, and handedness are factors in the differential recruitment of encoding network regions for both passive and active learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sangeeta Nair
- Department of Neurology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States
- Department of Psychology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States
| | - Rodolphe E. Nenert
- Department of Neurology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States
| | - Jane B. Allendorfer
- Department of Neurology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States
| | - Adam M. Goodman
- Department of Neurology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States
| | - Jennifer Vannest
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neurology, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, United States
| | - Daniel Mirman
- Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Jerzy P. Szaflarski
- Department of Neurology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States
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18
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What's "left"? Hemispheric sensitivity to predictability and congruity during sentence reading by older adults. Neuropsychologia 2019; 133:107173. [PMID: 31430444 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2019] [Revised: 08/15/2019] [Accepted: 08/16/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
A number of studies have found that older adults' sentence processing tends not to be characterized by the prediction-related effects attested for young adults. Here, we further probed older adults' sensitivity to predictability and congruity by recording event-related brain potentials (ERPs) as adults over age 60 read pairs of sentences, which ended with either the expected word, an unexpected word from the same semantic category, or an unexpected word from a different category. Half of the contexts were highly constraining. Consistent with patterns attested when older adults listened to these same materials (Federmeier et al., 2002), N400s, on average, were smaller to expected than to unexpected words, but did not show constraint-related reductions for unexpected words that shared features with the most predictable completion (an effect well-attested in young adults). This pattern resembles that seen in young adults for right-hemisphere-biased processing. To assess whether older adults retain young-like hemispheric asymmetries but recruit right hemisphere mechanisms more, we examined responses to the target words using visual half-field presentation. Whereas young adults show an asymmetric pattern, with prediction-related N400 amplitude reductions for left- but not right-hemisphere-initiated processing (Federmeier and Kutas, 1999b), older adults showed no reliable processing asymmetries and no evidence for prediction with left hemisphere-initiated presentation. The results suggest that left hemisphere mechanisms important for prediction during language processing are less efficacious in older adulthood.
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19
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Agbangla NF, Audiffren M, Pylouster J, Albinet CT. Working Memory, Cognitive Load andCardiorespiratory Fitness: Testing the CRUNCHModel with Near-Infrared Spectroscopy. Brain Sci 2019; 9:brainsci9020038. [PMID: 30744137 PMCID: PMC6406418 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci9020038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2018] [Revised: 02/01/2019] [Accepted: 02/06/2019] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The present study aimed to examine the effects of chronological age and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) on cognitive performance and prefrontal cortex activity, and to test the compensation-related utilization of neural circuits hypothesis (CRUNCH). A total of 19 young adults (18–22 years) and 37 older ones (60–77 years) with a high or low CRF level were recruited to perform a working memory updating task under three different cognitive load conditions. Prefrontal cortex hemodynamic responses were continuously recorded using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, and behavioral performances and perceived difficulty were measured. Results showed that chronological age had deleterious effects on both cognitive performance and prefrontal cortex activation under a higher cognitive load. In older adults, however, higher levels of CRF were related to increased bilateral prefrontal cortex activation patterns that allowed them to sustain better cognitive performances, especially under the highest cognitive load. These results are discussed in the light of the neurocognitive CRUNCH model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nounagnon Frutueux Agbangla
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l'Apprentissage (UMR 7295), Université de Poitiers and Université François-Rabelais de Tours, 86073 Poitiers CEDEX 9, France.
- Atelier SHERPAS - Unité de Recherche Pluridisciplinaire Sport Santé Société (EA 7369), Université d'Artois, 62800 Liévin, France.
| | - Michel Audiffren
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l'Apprentissage (UMR 7295), Université de Poitiers and Université François-Rabelais de Tours, 86073 Poitiers CEDEX 9, France.
| | - Jean Pylouster
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l'Apprentissage (UMR 7295), Université de Poitiers and Université François-Rabelais de Tours, 86073 Poitiers CEDEX 9, France.
| | - Cédric T Albinet
- Laboratoire Sciences de la Cognition, Technologie, Ergonomie (SCoTE ⁻ EA 7420), Université de Toulouse, INU Champollion, 81012 Albi, France.
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20
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Sullivan MD, Anderson JAE, Turner GR, Spreng RN. Intrinsic neurocognitive network connectivity differences between normal aging and mild cognitive impairment are associated with cognitive status and age. Neurobiol Aging 2019; 73:219-228. [PMID: 30391818 PMCID: PMC6251760 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2018.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2018] [Revised: 09/11/2018] [Accepted: 10/02/2018] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) of the amnestic type is considered to be a transitionary stage between healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Previous studies have demonstrated that intrinsic functional connectivity of the default network (DN) is altered in normal aging and AD and impacts both within- and between-network connectivity. Although changes within the DN have been reported in MCI, it remains uncertain how interactions with other large-scale brain networks are altered in this prodromal stage of AD. We investigated within- and between-network connectivity in healthy older adults (HOAs) and older adults with MCI across 3 canonical brain networks: DN, dorsal attention network, and frontoparietal control network. We also assessed how patterns of functional connectivity among the 3 networks predicted cognitive status and age using multivariate partial least squares. A total of 91 MCI and 71 HOA resting-state scans were analyzed from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. There were 3 key findings. First, a circumscribed pattern of greater between-network and interhemispheric connectivity was associated with higher cognitive status in HOAs. Second, for individuals with MCI, cognitive status was positively associated with a more distributed, less-differentiated pattern of intrinsic functional connectivity across the 3 networks. Finally, greater within-network functional connectivity was positively associated with cognitive status for HOAs irrespective of age; however, this compensation-like effect diminished with increasing age for participants with MCI. Although reliable differences between healthy aging and MCI in the intrinsic network architecture of the brain are apparent, these differences emerge as shifting associations between network interactivity, cognitive functioning, and age.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - John A E Anderson
- Kimmel Family Imaging and Genetics Laboratory, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Gary R Turner
- Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - R Nathan Spreng
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada; Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
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21
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Hübner L, Godde B, Voelcker-Rehage C. Older adults reveal enhanced task-related beta power decreases during a force modulation task. Behav Brain Res 2018; 345:104-113. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2018.02.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2017] [Revised: 02/16/2018] [Accepted: 02/20/2018] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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22
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Prieur J, Pika S, Blois-Heulin C, Barbu S. Captive chimpanzees' manual laterality in tool use context: Influence of communication and of sociodemographic factors. Behav Processes 2018; 157:610-624. [PMID: 29665416 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2018.04.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2017] [Revised: 02/27/2018] [Accepted: 04/10/2018] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Understanding variations of apes' laterality between activities is a central issue when investigating the evolutionary origins of human hemispheric specialization of manual functions and language. We assessed laterality of 39 chimpanzees in a non-communication action similar to termite fishing that we compared with data on five frequent conspecific-directed gestures involving a tool previously exploited in the same subjects. We evaluated, first, population-level manual laterality for tool-use in non-communication actions; second, the influence of sociodemographic factors (age, sex, group, and hierarchy) on manual laterality in both non-communication actions and gestures. No significant right-hand bias at the population level was found for non-communication tool use, contrary to our previous findings for gestures involving a tool. A multifactorial analysis revealed that hierarchy and age particularly modulated manual laterality. Dominants and immatures were more right-handed when using a tool in gestures than in non-communication actions. On the contrary, subordinates, adolescents, young and mature adults as well as males were more right-handed when using a tool in non-communication actions than in gestures. Our findings support the hypothesis that some primate species may have a specific left-hemisphere processing gestures distinct from the cerebral system processing non-communication manual actions and to partly support the tool use hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacques Prieur
- Ethos "Ethologie Animale et Humaine'', Université de Rennes 1 - CNRS UMR 6552, Station Biologique de Paimpont, France.
| | - Simone Pika
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Primatology, "Virtual Geesehouse", Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Catherine Blois-Heulin
- Ethos "Ethologie Animale et Humaine'', Université de Rennes 1 - CNRS UMR 6552, Station Biologique de Paimpont, France
| | - Stéphanie Barbu
- Ethos "Ethologie Animale et Humaine'', Université de Rennes 1 - CNRS UMR 6552, Station Biologique de Paimpont, France
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23
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Age-related differences in BOLD modulation to cognitive control costs in a multitasking paradigm: Global switch, local switch, and compatibility-switch costs. Neuroimage 2018; 172:146-161. [PMID: 29414492 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.01.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2017] [Revised: 12/18/2017] [Accepted: 01/12/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
It is well documented that older adults recruit additional brain regions compared to those recruited by younger adults while performing a wide variety of cognitive tasks. However, it is unclear how such age-related over-recruitment interacts with different types of cognitive control, and whether this over-recruitment is compensatory. To test this, we used a multitasking paradigm, which allowed us to examine age-related over-activation associated with three types of cognitive costs (i.e., global switch, local switch, compatibility-switch costs). We found age-related impairments in global switch cost (GSC), evidenced by slower response times for maintaining and coordinating two tasks vs. performing only one task. However, no age-related declines were observed in either local switch cost (LSC), a cognitive cost associated with switching between the two tasks while maintaining two task loads, or compatibility-switch cost (CSC), a cognitive cost associated with incompatible vs. compatible stimulus-response mappings across the two tasks. The fMRI analyses allowed for identification of distinct cognitive cost-sensitive brain regions associated with GSC and LSC. In fronto-parietal GSC and LSC regions, older adults' increased activations were associated with poorer performance (greater costs), whereas a reverse relationship was observed in younger adults. Older adults also recruited additional fronto-parietal brain regions outside the cognitive cost-sensitive areas, which was associated with poorer performance or no behavioral benefits. Our results suggest that older adults exhibit a combination of inefficient activation within cognitive cost-sensitive regions, specifically the GSC and LSC regions, and non-compensatory over-recruitment in age-sensitive regions. Age-related declines in global switching, compared to local switching, was observed earlier in old age at both neural and behavioral levels.
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24
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Krakauer K, Ebdrup BH, Glenthøj BY, Raghava JM, Nordholm D, Randers L, Rostrup E, Nordentoft M. Patterns of white matter microstructure in individuals at ultra-high-risk for psychosis: associations to level of functioning and clinical symptoms. Psychol Med 2017; 47:2689-2707. [PMID: 28464976 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291717001210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Individuals at ultra-high-risk (UHR) for psychosis present with emerging symptoms and decline in functioning. Previous univariate analyses have indicated widespread white matter (WM) aberrations in multiple brain regions in UHR individuals and patients with schizophrenia. Using multivariate statistics, we investigated whole brain WM microstructure and associations between WM, clinical symptoms, and level of functioning in UHR individuals. METHODS Forty-five UHR individuals and 45 matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) at 3 Tesla. UHR individuals were assessed with the Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental States, Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms, and Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale. Partial least-squares correlation analysis (PLSC) was used as statistical method. RESULTS PLSC group comparisons revealed one significant latent variable (LV) accounting for 52% of the cross-block covariance. This LV indicated a pattern of lower fractional anisotropy (FA), axial diffusivity (AD), and mode of anisotropy (MO) concomitant with higher radial diffusivity (RD) in widespread brain regions in UHR individuals compared with HCs. Within UHR individuals, PLSC revealed five significant LVs associated with symptoms and level of functioning. The first LV accounted for 31% of the cross-block covariance and indicated a pattern where higher symptom score and lower level of functioning correlated to lower FA, AD, MO, and higher RD. CONCLUSIONS UHR individuals demonstrate complex brain patterns of WM abnormalities. Despite the subtle psychopathology of UHR individuals, aberrations in WM appear associated with positive and negative symptoms as well as level of functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- K Krakauer
- Mental Health Centre Copenhagen,Copenhagen University Hospital,DK-2900 Hellerup,Denmark
| | - B H Ebdrup
- Centre for Clinical Intervention and Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research, CINS,DK-2600 Glostrup,Denmark
| | - B Y Glenthøj
- Centre for Clinical Intervention and Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research, CINS,DK-2600 Glostrup,Denmark
| | - J M Raghava
- Centre for Clinical Intervention and Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research, CINS,DK-2600 Glostrup,Denmark
| | - D Nordholm
- Mental Health Centre Copenhagen,Copenhagen University Hospital,DK-2900 Hellerup,Denmark
| | - L Randers
- Mental Health Centre Copenhagen,Copenhagen University Hospital,DK-2900 Hellerup,Denmark
| | - E Rostrup
- Functional Imaging Unit,Clinical Physiology,Nuclear Medicine and PET,Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet,DK-2600 Glostrup,Denmark
| | - M Nordentoft
- Mental Health Centre Copenhagen,Copenhagen University Hospital,DK-2900 Hellerup,Denmark
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25
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Jannusch K, Jockwitz C, Bidmon HJ, Moebus S, Amunts K, Caspers S. A Complex Interplay of Vitamin B1 and B6 Metabolism with Cognition, Brain Structure, and Functional Connectivity in Older Adults. Front Neurosci 2017; 11:596. [PMID: 29163003 PMCID: PMC5663975 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00596] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2017] [Accepted: 10/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Aging is associated with brain atrophy, functional brain network reorganization and decline of cognitive performance, albeit characterized by high interindividual variability. Among environmental influencing factors accounting for this variability, nutrition and particularly vitamin supply is thought to play an important role. While evidence exists that supplementation of vitamins B6 and B1 might be beneficial for cognition and brain structure, at least in deficient states and neurodegenerative diseases, little is known about this relation during healthy aging and in relation to reorganization of functional brain networks. We thus assessed the relation between blood levels of vitamins B1 and B6 and cognitive performance, cortical folding, and functional resting-state connectivity in a large sample of older adults (N > 600; age: 55-85 years), drawn from the population-based 1000BRAINS study. In addition to blood sampling, subjects underwent structural and functional resting-state neuroimaging as well as extensive neuropsychological testing in the domains of executive functions, (working) memory, attention, and language. Brain regions showing changes in the local gyrification index as calculated using FreeSurfer in relation to vitamin levels were used for subsequent seed-based resting-state functional connectivity analysis. For B6, a positive correlation with local cortical folding was found throughout the brain, while only slight changes in functional connectivity were observed. Contrarily, for B1, a negative correlation with cortical folding as well as problem solving and visuo-spatial working memory performance was found, which was accompanied by pronounced increases of interhemispheric and decreases of intrahemispheric functional connectivity. While the effects for B6 expand previous knowledge on beneficial effects of B6 supplementation on brain structure, they also showed that additional effects on cognition might not be recognizable in healthy older subjects with normal B6 blood levels. The cortical atrophy and pronounced functional reorganization associated with B1, contrarily, was more in line with the theory of a disturbed B1 metabolism in older adults, leading to B1 utilization deficits, and thus, an effective B1 deficiency in the brain, despite normal to high-normal blood levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kai Jannusch
- C. & O. Vogt Institute for Brain Research, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Christiane Jockwitz
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
- JARA–BRAIN, Jülich Aachen Research Alliance, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Hans-Jürgen Bidmon
- C. & O. Vogt Institute for Brain Research, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Susanne Moebus
- Institute of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Katrin Amunts
- C. & O. Vogt Institute for Brain Research, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
- JARA–BRAIN, Jülich Aachen Research Alliance, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Svenja Caspers
- C. & O. Vogt Institute for Brain Research, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
- JARA–BRAIN, Jülich Aachen Research Alliance, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
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26
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Age-related language lateralization assessed by fMRI: The effects of sex and handedness. Brain Res 2017; 1674:20-35. [PMID: 28830770 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2017.08.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2017] [Revised: 08/14/2017] [Accepted: 08/16/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies focusing on the relationship between lateralization of language function and age suffer from lack of a balanced distribution of age and handedness among participants, especially in the extremes of age. This limits our understanding of the influence of these factors on lateralization of language circuitry. The hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults (HAROLD) model suggests that under similar circumstances, involvement in cognitive processes of prefrontal (and potentially other) cortical areas tends to be less lateralized with age. In this study, we aimed to investigate the link between age, gender, and language lateralization in a large group of healthy participants with a relatively even distribution of age and handedness in order to further test the HAROLD model. 99 healthy men (33 left-handed; age range 18-74years) and 125 women (44 left-handed; age range 19-76) were recruited. All participants underwent fMRI at 3T with a semantic decision and a verb generation tasks and received a battery of linguistic tests. Lateralization indexes (LI) were calculated for each participant based on fMRI results for each task separately. LIs were found to be significantly decreasing with age only in right-handed men and only in temporo-parietal cortical area. LIs did not change with age in other brain regions or in left-handed subjects. Our results do not support the HAROLD model and suggest a potentially different relationship between aging and lateralization of language functions.
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27
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Simioni AC, Dagher A, Fellows LK. Effects of levodopa on corticostriatal circuits supporting working memory in Parkinson's disease. Cortex 2017; 93:193-205. [PMID: 28675834 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.05.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2017] [Revised: 05/10/2017] [Accepted: 05/28/2017] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Working memory dysfunction is common in Parkinson's disease, even in its early stages, but its neural basis is debated. Working memory performance likely reflects a balance between corticostriatal dysfunction and compensatory mechanisms. We tested this hypothesis by examining working memory performance with a letter n-back task in 19 patients with mild-moderate Parkinson's disease and 20 demographically matched healthy controls. Parkinson's disease patients were tested after an overnight washout of their usual dopamine replacement therapy, and again after a standard dose of levodopa. FMRI was used to assess task-related activation and resting state functional connectivity; changes in BOLD signal were related to performance to disentangle pathological and compensatory processes. Parkinson's disease patients off dopamine replacement therapy displayed significantly reduced spatial extent of task-related activation in left prefrontal and bilateral parietal cortex, and poorer working memory performance, compared to controls. Amongst the Parkinson's disease patients off dopamine replacement therapy, relatively better performance was associated with greater activation of right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex compared to controls, consistent with compensatory right hemisphere recruitment. Administration of levodopa remediated the working memory deficit in the Parkinson's disease group, and resulted in a different pattern of performance-correlated activity, with a shift to greater left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation in patients on, compared to off dopamine replacement therapy. Levodopa also significantly increased resting-state functional connectivity between caudate and right parietal cortex (within the right fronto-parietal attentional network). The strength of this connectivity contributed to better performance in patients and controls, suggesting a general compensatory mechanism. These findings argue that Parkinson's disease patients can recruit additional neural resources, here, the right fronto-parietal network, to optimize working memory performance despite impaired corticostriatal function. Levodopa seems to both boost engagement of a task-specific prefrontal region, and strengthen a putative compensatory caudate-cortical network to support this executive function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alison C Simioni
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
| | - Alain Dagher
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
| | - Lesley K Fellows
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
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Aging changes 3D perception: Evidence for hemispheric rebalancing of lateralized processes. Neuropsychologia 2017; 99:121-127. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2016] [Revised: 02/15/2017] [Accepted: 03/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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Schaich A, Obermeyer S, Kolling T, Knopf M. An Own-Age Bias in Recognizing Faces with Horizontal Information. Front Aging Neurosci 2016; 8:264. [PMID: 27877125 PMCID: PMC5099143 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2016.00264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2016] [Accepted: 10/24/2016] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Horizontal information, as a result of a selective filtering process, is essential in younger adults’ (YA) ability to recognize human faces. Obermeyer et al. (2012) recently reported impaired recognition of faces with horizontal information in older adults (OA) suggesting age-variant processing. Two yet unconsidered factors (stimulus age and exposure duration) that may have influenced previous results, were investigated in this study. Forty-seven YA (18–35 years) and 49 OA (62–83 years) were tested in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 mixed design with the between-subjects factors age group (YA vs. OA) and stimulus age (young faces vs. older faces) and the within-subjects factors filter [filtered (HF) faces vs. unfiltered faces (UF)] and exposure duration (0.8 s vs. 8 s). Subjects were presented morph videos between pairs of faces: a starting face gradually merged into either the previously encoded target face or a control face. As expected, results showed an increase in recognition sensitivity (d′) with longer exposure duration in YA with both younger and older HF faces. OA, however, were unable to recognize filtered young faces not even with increased exposure duration. Furthermore, only elderly participants showed more accurate recognition with faces of their own age relative to other-age faces (own-age bias, OAB). For YA no OAB was observed. Filtered face recognition was significantly correlated with unfiltered recognition in YA but not in OA. It is concluded, that processing of horizontal information changes at a higher age. Presenting filtered or unfiltered faces both targets convergent face-specific processing only in YA but not in OA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Schaich
- Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Sven Obermeyer
- Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
| | | | - Monika Knopf
- Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
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Simultaneous EEG-fNIRS reveals how age and feedback affect motor imagery signatures. Neurobiol Aging 2016; 49:183-197. [PMID: 27818001 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2016.10.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2015] [Revised: 10/07/2016] [Accepted: 10/09/2016] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Stroke frequently results in motor impairment. Motor imagery (MI), the mental practice of movements, has been suggested as a promising complement to other therapeutic approaches facilitating motor rehabilitation. Of particular potential is the combination of MI with neurofeedback (NF). However, MI NF protocols have been largely optimized only in younger healthy adults, although strokes occur more frequently in older adults. The present study examined the influence of age on the neural correlates of MI supported by electroencephalogram (EEG)-based NF and on the neural correlates of motor execution. We adopted a multimodal neuroimaging framework focusing on EEG-derived event-related desynchronization (ERD%) and oxygenated (HbO) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (HbR) concentrations simultaneously acquired using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). ERD%, HbO concentration and HbR concentration were compared between younger (mean age: 24.4 years) and older healthy adults (mean age: 62.6 years). During MI, ERD% and HbR concentration were less lateralized in older adults than in younger adults. The lateralization-by-age interaction was not significant for movement execution. Moreover, EEG-based NF was related to an increase in task-specific activity when compared to the absence of feedback in both older and younger adults. Finally, significant modulation correlations were found between ERD% and hemodynamic measures despite the absence of significant amplitude correlations. Overall, the findings suggest a complex relationship between age and movement-related activity in electrophysiological and hemodynamic measures. Our results emphasize that the age of the actual end-user should be taken into account when designing neurorehabilitation protocols.
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31
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Age-related changes in post-movement beta synchronization during a selective inhibition task. Exp Brain Res 2016; 234:3543-3553. [PMID: 27531152 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-016-4753-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2016] [Accepted: 08/04/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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32
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Diaz MT, Rizio AA, Zhuang J. The neural language systems that support healthy aging: Integrating function, structure, and behavior. LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS COMPASS 2016; 10:314-334. [PMID: 28210287 PMCID: PMC5304920 DOI: 10.1111/lnc3.12199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Although healthy aging is generally characterized by declines in both brain structure and function, there is variability in the extent to which these changes result in observable cognitive decline. Specific to language, age-related differences in language production are observed more frequently than in language comprehension, although both are associated with increased right prefrontal cortex activation in older adults. The current paper explores these differences in the language system, integrating them with theories of behavioral and neural cognitive aging. Overall, data indicate that frontal reorganization of the dorsal language stream in older adults benefits task performance during comprehension, but not always during production. We interpret these results in the CRUNCH framework (compensation-related utilization of neural circuits hypothesis), which suggests that differences in task and process difficulty may underlie older adults' ability to successfully adapt. That is, older adults may be able to neurally adapt to less difficult tasks (i.e., comprehension), but fail to do so successfully as difficulty increases (i.e., production). We hypothesize greater age-related differences in aspects of language that rely more heavily on the dorsal language stream (e.g., syntax and production) and that recruit general cognitive resources that rely on frontal regions (e.g., executive function, working memory, inhibition). Moreover, there should be a relative sparing of tasks that rely predominantly on ventral stream regions. These results are both consistent with patterns of age-related structural decline and retention and with varying levels of difficulty across comprehension and production. This neurocognitive framework for understanding age-related differences in the language system centers on the interaction between prefrontal cortex activation, structural integrity, and task difficulty.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Avery A. Rizio
- The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Jie Zhuang
- Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
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33
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Perceptual bias, more than age, impacts on eye movements during face processing. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2016; 164:127-35. [PMID: 26799983 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2015.12.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2015] [Revised: 11/06/2015] [Accepted: 12/21/2015] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Consistent with the right hemispheric dominance for face processing, a left perceptual bias (LPB) is typically demonstrated by younger adults viewing faces and a left eye movement bias has also been revealed. Hemispheric asymmetry is predicted to reduce with age and older adults have demonstrated a weaker LPB, particularly when viewing time is restricted. What is currently unclear is whether age also weakens the left eye movement bias. Additionally, a right perceptual bias (RPB) for facial judgments has less frequently been demonstrated, but whether this is accompanied by a right eye movement bias has not been investigated. To address these issues older and younger adults' eye movements and gender judgments of chimeric faces were recorded in two time conditions. Age did not significantly weaken the LPB or eye movement bias; both groups looked initially to the left side of the face and made more fixations when the gender judgment was based on the left side. A positive association was found between LPB and initial saccades in the freeview condition and with all eye movements (initial saccades, number and duration of fixations) when time was restricted. The accompanying eye movement bias revealed by LPB participants contrasted with RPB participants who demonstrated no eye movement bias in either time condition. Consequently, increased age is not clearly associated with weakened perceptual and eye movement biases. Instead an eye movement bias accompanies an LPB (particularly under restricted viewing time conditions) but not an RPB.
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Abstract
Although aging is associated with clear declines in physical and cognitive processes, emotional functioning fares relatively well. Consistent with this behavioral profile, two core emotional brain regions, the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, show little structural and functional decline in aging, compared with other regions. However, emotional processes depend on interacting systems of neurotransmitters and brain regions that go beyond these structures. This review examines how age-related brain changes influence processes such as attending to and remembering emotional stimuli, regulating emotion, and recognizing emotional expressions, as well as empathy, risk taking, impulsivity, behavior change, and attentional focus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mara Mather
- Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089;
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35
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Goffaux V, Poncin A, Schiltz C. Selectivity of Face Perception to Horizontal Information over Lifespan (from 6 to 74 Year Old). PLoS One 2015; 10:e0138812. [PMID: 26398215 PMCID: PMC4580649 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138812] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2015] [Accepted: 09/03/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Face recognition in young human adults preferentially relies on the processing of horizontally-oriented visual information. We addressed whether the horizontal tuning of face perception is modulated by the extensive experience humans acquire with faces over the lifespan, or whether it reflects an invariable processing bias for this visual category. We tested 296 subjects aged from 6 to 74 years in a face matching task. Stimuli were upright and inverted faces filtered to preserve information in the horizontal or vertical orientation, or both (HV) ranges. The reliance on face-specific processing was inferred based on the face inversion effect (FIE). FIE size increased linearly until young adulthood in the horizontal but not the vertical orientation range of face information. These findings indicate that the protracted specialization of the face processing system relies on the extensive experience humans acquire at encoding the horizontal information conveyed by upright faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valérie Goffaux
- Institut de recherche en sciences psychologiques (IPSY), Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique
- Institute of Neuroscience (IONS), Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- * E-mail:
| | - Aude Poncin
- Institut de recherche en sciences psychologiques (IPSY), Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique
- Institute of Neuroscience (IONS), Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique
| | - Christine Schiltz
- Institute of Cognitive Science and Assessment (COSA); Education, Culture, Cognition and Society (ECCS) unit, University of Luxembourg, Walferdange, Luxembourg
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36
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Martins B, Ponzio A, Velasco R, Kaplan J, Mather M. Dedifferentiation of emotion regulation strategies in the aging brain. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2014; 10:840-7. [PMID: 25380765 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsu129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2014] [Accepted: 10/14/2014] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Different emotion regulation strategies are distinctly represented in the brains of younger adults. Decreasing a reaction to a negative situation by reinterpreting it (reappraisal) relies on cognitive control regions in the prefrontal cortex, while distracting away from a stressor involves more posterior medial structures. In this study, we used Multi-Voxel pattern analyses (MVPA) to examine whether reappraisal and distraction strategies have distinct representations in the older adult brain, or whether emotion regulation strategies become more dedifferentiated in later life. MVPA better differentiated the two emotion regulation strategies for younger adults than for older adults, and revealed the greatest age-related differences in differentiation in the posterior medial cortex (PMC). Univariate analyses revealed equal PMC recruitment across strategies for older adults, but greater activity during distraction than reappraisal for younger adults. The PMC is central to self-focused processing, and thus our findings are consistent with the possibility that focusing on the self may be a default mechanism across emotion regulation strategies for older people.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruna Martins
- Department of Psychology and Department of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0191, USA
| | - Allison Ponzio
- Department of Psychology and Department of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0191, USA
| | - Ricardo Velasco
- Department of Psychology and Department of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0191, USA
| | - Jonas Kaplan
- Department of Psychology and Department of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0191, USA
| | - Mara Mather
- Department of Psychology and Department of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0191, USA Department of Psychology and Department of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0191, USA
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37
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Burianová H, Lee Y, Grady CL, Moscovitch M. Age-related dedifferentiation and compensatory changes in the functional network underlying face processing. Neurobiol Aging 2013; 34:2759-67. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2013.06.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2012] [Revised: 05/21/2013] [Accepted: 06/20/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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38
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Konar Y, Bennett PJ, Sekuler AB. Effects of aging on face identification and holistic face processing. Vision Res 2013; 88:38-46. [PMID: 23806271 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2013.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2012] [Revised: 05/15/2013] [Accepted: 06/14/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Several studies have shown that face identification accuracy is lower in older than younger adults. This effect of aging might be due to age differences in holistic processing, which is thought to be an important component of human face processing. Currently, however, there is conflicting evidence as to whether holistic face processing is impaired in older adults. The current study therefore re-examined this issue by measuring response accuracy in a 1-of-4 face identification task and the composite face effect (CFE), a common index of holistic processing, in older adults. Consistent with previous reports, we found that face identification accuracy was lower in older adults than in younger adults tested in the same task. We also found a significant CFE in older adults that was similar in magnitude to the CFE measured in younger subjects with the same task. Finally, we found that there was a significant positive correlation between the CFE and face identification accuracy. This last result differs from the results obtained in a previous study that used the same tasks and which found no evidence of an association between the CFE and face identification accuracy in younger adults. Furthermore, the age difference was found with subtraction-, regression-, and ratio-based estimates of the CFE. The current findings are consistent with previous claims that older adults rely more heavily on holistic processing to identify objects in conditions of limited processing resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaroslav Konar
- Psychology Department, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada.
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39
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Garrett DD, McIntosh AR, Grady CL. Brain signal variability is parametrically modifiable. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2013; 24:2931-40. [PMID: 23749875 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bht150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
Moment-to-moment brain signal variability is a ubiquitous neural characteristic, yet remains poorly understood. Evidence indicates that heightened signal variability can index and aid efficient neural function, but it is not known whether signal variability responds to precise levels of environmental demand, or instead whether variability is relatively static. Using multivariate modeling of functional magnetic resonance imaging-based parametric face processing data, we show here that within-person signal variability level responds to incremental adjustments in task difficulty, in a manner entirely distinct from results produced by examining mean brain signals. Using mixed modeling, we also linked parametric modulations in signal variability with modulations in task performance. We found that difficulty-related reductions in signal variability predicted reduced accuracy and longer reaction times within-person; mean signal changes were not predictive. We further probed the various differences between signal variance and signal means by examining all voxels, subjects, and conditions; this analysis of over 2 million data points failed to reveal any notable relations between voxel variances and means. Our results suggest that brain signal variability provides a systematic task-driven signal of interest from which we can understand the dynamic function of the human brain, and in a way that mean signals cannot capture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Douglas D Garrett
- Max Planck Society-University College London Initiative for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research (ICPAR), Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Anthony R McIntosh
- Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6A 2E1, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 3G3 and
| | - Cheryl L Grady
- Rotman Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6A 2E1, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 3G3 and Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada M5T 1R8
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40
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Bieniek MM, Frei LS, Rousselet GA. Early ERPs to faces: aging, luminance, and individual differences. Front Psychol 2013; 4:268. [PMID: 23717297 PMCID: PMC3653118 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2013] [Accepted: 04/25/2013] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Recently, Rousselet et al. reported a 1 ms/year delay in visual processing speed in a sample of healthy aged 62 subjects (Frontiers in Psychology 2010, 1:19). Here, we replicate this finding in an independent sample of 59 subjects and investigate the contribution of optical factors (pupil size and luminance) to the age-related slowdown and to individual differences in visual processing speed. We conducted two experiments. In experiment 1 we recorded EEG from subjects aged 18–79. Subjects viewed images of faces and phase scrambled noise textures under nine luminance conditions, ranging from 0.59 to 60.8 cd/m2. We manipulated luminance using neutral density filters. In experiment 2, 10 young subjects (age < 35) viewed similar stimuli through pinholes ranging from 1 to 5 mm. In both experiments, subjects were tested twice. We found a 1 ms/year slowdown in visual processing that was independent of luminance. Aging effects became visible around 125 ms post-stimulus and did not affect the onsets of the face-texture ERP differences. Furthermore, luminance modulated the entire ERP time-course from 60 to 500 ms. Luminance effects peaked in the N170 time window and were independent of age. Importantly, senile miosis and individual differences in pupil size did not account for aging differences and inter-subject variability in processing speed. The pinhole manipulation also failed to match the ERPs of old subjects to those of young subjects. Overall, our results strongly suggest that early ERPs to faces (<200 ms) are delayed by aging and that these delays are of cortical, rather than optical origin. Our results also demonstrate that even late ERPs to faces are modulated by low-level factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Magdalena M Bieniek
- Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow Glasgow, UK
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41
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Theta responses are abnormal in mild cognitive impairment: evidence from analysis of theta event-related synchronization during a temporal expectancy task. J Neural Transm (Vienna) 2012. [DOI: 10.1007/s00702-012-0921-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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42
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Ballesteros S, Bischof GN, Goh JO, Park DC. Neural correlates of conceptual object priming in young and older adults: an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Neurobiol Aging 2012; 34:1254-64. [PMID: 23102512 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2012.09.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2011] [Revised: 09/18/2012] [Accepted: 09/26/2012] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
In this event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we investigated age-related differences in brain activity associated with conceptual repetition priming in young and older adults. Participants performed a speeded "living/nonliving" classification task with 3 repetitions of familiar objects. Both young and older adults showed a similar magnitude of behavioral priming to repeated objects and evidenced repetition-related activation reductions in fusiform gyrus, superior occipital, middle, and inferior temporal cortex, and inferior frontal and insula regions. The neural priming effect in young adults was extensive and continued through both the second and third stimulus repetitions, and neural priming in older adults was markedly attenuated and reached floor at the second repetition. In young adults, greater neural priming in multiple brain regions correlated with greater behavioral facilitation and in older adults, only activation reduction in the left inferior frontal correlated with faster behavioral responses. These findings provide evidence for altered neural priming in older adults despite preserved behavioral priming, and suggest the possibility that age-invariant behavioral priming is observed as a result of more sustained neural processing of stimuli in older adults which might be a form of compensatory neural activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soledad Ballesteros
- Department of Basic Psychology II, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid, Spain.
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43
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Obermeyer S, Kolling T, Schaich A, Knopf M. Differences between Old and Young Adults' Ability to Recognize Human Faces Underlie Processing of Horizontal Information. Front Aging Neurosci 2012; 4:3. [PMID: 22536184 PMCID: PMC3332157 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2012.00003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2012] [Accepted: 04/02/2012] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent psychophysical research supports the notion that horizontal information of a face is primarily important for facial identity processes. Even though this has been demonstrated to be valid for young adults, the concept of horizontal information as primary informative source has not yet been applied to older adults' ability to correctly identify faces. In the current paper, the role different filtering methods might play in an identity processing task is examined for young and old adults, both taken from student populations. Contrary to most findings in the field of developmental face perception, only a near-significant age effect is apparent in upright and un-manipulated presentation of stimuli, whereas a bigger difference between age groups can be observed for a condition which removes all but horizontal information of a face. It is concluded that a critical feature of human face perception, the preferential processing of horizontal information, is less efficient past the age of 60 and is involved in recognition processes that undergo age-related decline usually found in the literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sven Obermeyer
- Department of Psychology, Institute for Psychology, Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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44
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Meier TB, Naing L, Thomas LE, Nair VA, Hillis AE, Prabhakaran V. Validating age-related functional imaging changes in verbal working memory with acute stroke. Behav Neurol 2011; 24:187-99. [PMID: 21876259 PMCID: PMC3177151 DOI: 10.3233/ben-2011-0331] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Functional imaging studies consistently find that older adults recruit bilateral brain regions in cognitive tasks that are strongly lateralized in younger adults, a characterization known as the Hemispheric Asymmetry Reduction in Older Adults model. While functional imaging displays what brain areas are active during tasks, it cannot demonstrate what brain regions are necessary for task performance. We used behavioral data from acute stroke patients to test the hypothesis that older adults need both hemispheres for a verbal working memory task that is predominantly left-lateralized in younger adults. Right-handed younger (age ≥ 50, n = 7) and older adults (age > 50, n = 21) with acute unilateral stroke, as well as younger (n = 6) and older (n = 13) transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients, performed a self-paced verbal item-recognition task. Older patients with stroke to either hemisphere had a higher frequency of deficits in the verbal working memory task compared to older TIA patients. Additionally, the deficits in older stroke patients were mainly in retrieval time while the deficits in younger stroke patients were mainly in accuracy. These data suggest that bihemispheric activity is necessary for older adults to successfully perform a verbal working memory task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy B Meier
- Neuroscience Training Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
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45
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Lee Y, Grady CL, Habak C, Wilson HR, Moscovitch M. Face Processing Changes in Normal Aging Revealed by fMRI Adaptation. J Cogn Neurosci 2011; 23:3433-47. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
We investigated the neural correlates of facial processing changes in healthy aging using fMRI and an adaptation paradigm. In the scanner, participants were successively presented with faces that varied in identity, viewpoint, both, or neither and performed a head size detection task independent of identity or viewpoint. In right fusiform face area (FFA), older adults failed to show adaptation to the same face repeatedly presented in the same view, which elicited the most adaptation in young adults. We also performed a multivariate analysis to examine correlations between whole-brain activation patterns and behavioral performance in a face-matching task tested outside the scanner. Despite poor neural adaptation in right FFA, high-performing older adults engaged the same face-processing network as high-performing young adults across conditions, except the one presenting a same facial identity across different viewpoints. Low-performing older adults used this network to a lesser extent. Additionally, high-performing older adults uniquely recruited a set of areas related to better performance across all conditions, indicating age-specific involvement of this added network. This network did not include the core ventral face-processing areas but involved the left inferior occipital gyrus, frontal, and parietal regions. Although our adaptation results show that the neuronal representations of the core face-preferring areas become less selective with age, our multivariate analysis indicates that older adults utilize a distinct network of regions associated with better face matching performance, suggesting that engaging this network may compensate for deficiencies in ventral face processing regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yunjo Lee
- 1Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Canada
| | - Cheryl L. Grady
- 1Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Canada
- 2University of Toronto
| | | | | | - Morris Moscovitch
- 1Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Canada
- 2University of Toronto
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46
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Solesio-Jofre E, Lorenzo-López L, Gutiérrez R, López-Frutos JM, Ruiz-Vargas JM, Maestú F. Age effects on retroactive interference during working memory maintenance. Biol Psychol 2011; 88:72-82. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2011.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2010] [Revised: 06/21/2011] [Accepted: 06/23/2011] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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Abstract
Given the increasing size of the older adult population in many countries, there is a pressing need to identify the nature of aging-related vision impairments, their underlying mechanisms, and how they impact older adults' performance of everyday visual tasks. The results of this research can then be used to develop and evaluate interventions to slow or reverse aging-related declines in vision, thereby improving quality of life. Here we summarize salient developments in research on aging and vision over the past 25 years, focusing on spatial contrast sensitivity, vision under low luminance, temporal sensitivity and motion perception, and visual processing speed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cynthia Owsley
- Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294-0009, USA.
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Germine LT, Duchaine B, Nakayama K. Where cognitive development and aging meet: face learning ability peaks after age 30. Cognition 2010; 118:201-10. [PMID: 21130422 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2010.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 237] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2009] [Revised: 11/04/2010] [Accepted: 11/06/2010] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Research on age-related cognitive change traditionally focuses on either development or aging, where development ends with adulthood and aging begins around 55 years. This approach ignores age-related changes during the 35 years in-between, implying that this period is uninformative. Here we investigated face recognition as an ability that may mature late relative to other abilities. Using data from over 60,000 participants, we traced the ability to learn new faces from pre-adolescence through middle age. In three separate experiments, we show that face learning ability improves until just after age 30 - even though other putatively related abilities (inverted face recognition and name recognition) stop showing age-related improvements years earlier. Our data provide the first behavioral evidence for late maturation of face processing and the dissociation of face recognition from other abilities over time demonstrates that studies on adult age development can provide insight into the organization and development of cognitive systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura T Germine
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
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Parks RW, Thiyagesh SN, Farrow TFD, Ingram L, Wilkinson K, Hunter MD, Wilkinson ID, Young C, Woodruff PWR. Performance on the Clock Drawing Task Correlates with fMRI Response to a Visuospatial Task in Alzheimer's Disease. Int J Neurosci 2010; 120:335-43. [DOI: 10.3109/00207450903320339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
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