Young and Middle-Aged Schoolteachers Differ in the Neural Correlates of Memory Encoding and Cognitive Fatigue: A Functional MRI Study

This investigation was inspired by growing evidence that middle-aged persons in a cognitively demanding profession might be characterized by subtle cognitive fatigue. We studied young and middle-aged male schoolteachers. They were compared in a study with functional magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate differences during successful memory encoding. The schoolteachers were additionally subjected to an induced fatigue condition involving the sustained performance of cognitively demanding tasks and to a control condition. Results showed age-related brain activation differences underlying behavioral performance including: (1) greater activation in middle-aged vs. young teachers in bilateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) areas; and (2) differential fatigue effects in the left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) depending on age group. Middle-aged schoolteachers showed decreased ACC activation in the fatigue compared to the control condition, whereas no change in activation was found in young teachers. Findings demonstrate age effects in these middle-aged subjects that are typically found in older adults, specifically in PFC over-activation. Findings also indicate that already in middle age cognitive aging may be associated with greater resource depletion following sustained task performance. The findings underscore the notion that persons in a cognitively demanding profession can experience subtle age effects, which are evident on fMRI and which impact daily functioning. Possible practical implications for middle-aged schoolteachers are discussed.

The effect of caffeine on working memory load-related brain activation in middle-aged males

Caffeine is commonly consumed in an effort to enhance cognitive performance. However, little is known about the usefulness of caffeine with regard to memory enhancement, with previous studies showing inconsistent effects on memory performance. We aimed to determine the effect of caffeine on working memory (WM) load-related activation during encoding, maintenance and retrieval phases of a WM maintenance task using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). 20 healthy, male, habitual caffeine consumers aged 40-61 years were administered 100 mg of caffeine in a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover design. Participants were scanned in a non-withdrawn state following a workday during which caffeinated products were consumed according to individual normal use (range = 145-595 mg). Acute caffeine administration was associated with increased load-related activation compared to placebo in the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during WM encoding, but decreased load-related activation in the left thalamus during WM maintenance. These findings are indicative of an effect of caffeine on the fronto-parietal network involved in the top-down cognitive control of WM processes during encoding and an effect on the prefrontal cortico-thalamic loop involved in the interaction between arousal and the top-down control of attention during maintenance. Therefore, the effects of caffeine on WM may be attributed to both a direct effect of caffeine on WM processes, as well as an indirect effect on WM via arousal modulation. Behavioural and fMRI results were more consistent with a detrimental effect of caffeine on WM at higher levels of WM load, than caffeine-related WM enhancement. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Cognitive Enhancers'.

The effects of sustained cognitive task performance on subsequent resting state functional connectivity in healthy young and middle-aged male schoolteachers

Previous studies showed that functional connectivity (FC) within resting state (RS) networks is modulated by previous experience. In this study the effects of sustained cognitive performance on subsequent RS FC were investigated in healthy young (25-30 years; n=15) and middle-aged (50-60 years; n=14) male schoolteachers. Participants were scanned (functional magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]) after a cognitively demanding and a control intervention (randomized tester-blind within-subject design). Independent component analysis (ICA) was used to decompose the data into spatially independent networks. This study focused on the executive control (ExN), the left and right frontoparietal (FPN), and the default mode network (DMN). The effects of cognitive performance and age were calculated with a full-factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA). A main effect of age was found in the left inferior frontal gyrus for the ExN and in the middle frontal gyrus for the DMN with middle-aged teachers having reduced RS FC. Sustained cognitive performance increased subsequent RS FC between the ExN and a lingual/parahippocampal cluster, and between the left FPN and a right calcarine/precuneus cluster. In these clusters, FC strength correlated positively with the perceived amount of effort during the intervention. Further, sustained cognitive performance affected subsequent RS FC between the ExN and the right temporal superior gyrus differently in young and middle-aged men. The results suggest that effects of age on RS FC are already present at middle age. Sustained cognitive performance increased RS FC between task-positive networks and other brain regions, although a change in RS FC within the networks was not found.