Adult age differences in functional connectivity during executive control.
Abstract
Task switching requires executive control processes that undergo age-related decline.
Previous neuroimaging studies have identified age-related differences in brain activation
associated with global switching effects (dual-task blocks versus single-task blocks),
but age-related differences in activation during local switching effects (switch trials
versus repeat trials, within blocks) have not been investigated. This experiment used
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI),
to examine adult age differences in task switching across adjacent trials (i.e., local
task switching). During fMRI scanning, participants performed a cued, word categorization
task. From interspersed cue-only trials, switch-related processing associated with
the cue was estimated separately from the target. Activation associated with task
switching, within a distributed frontoparietal network, differed for cue- and target-related
processing. The magnitude of event-related activation for task switching was similar
for younger adults (n=20; 18-27years) and older adults (n=20; 60-85years), although
activation sustained throughout the on-tasks periods exhibited some age-related decline.
Critically, the functional connectivity of switch-related regions, during cue processing,
was higher for younger adults than for older adults, whereas functional connectivity
during target processing was comparable across the age groups. Further, individual
differences in cue-related functional connectivity shared a substantial portion of
the age-related variability in the efficiency of target categorization response (drift
rate). This age-related difference in functional connectivity, however, was independent
of white matter integrity within task-relevant regions. These findings highlight the
functional connectivity of frontoparietal activation as a potential source of age-related
decline in executive control.
Type
Journal articleSubject
AdolescentAdult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Brain
Brain Mapping
Cognition
Cues
Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Executive Function
Female
Humans
Language Tests
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Middle Aged
Neural Pathways
Neuropsychological Tests
Reaction Time
Young Adult
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/13477Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.04.249Publication Info
Madden, David J; Costello, Matthew C; Dennis, Nancy A; Davis, Simon W; Shepler, Anne
M; Spaniol, Julia; ... Cabeza, Roberto (2010). Adult age differences in functional connectivity during executive control. Neuroimage, 52(2). pp. 643-657. 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.04.249. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/13477.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Roberto Cabeza
Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
My laboratory investigates the neural correlates of memory and cognition in young
and older adults using fMRI. We have three main lines of research: First, we distinguish
the neural correlates of various episodic memory processes. For example, we have compared
encoding vs. retrieval, item vs. source memory, recall vs. recognition, true vs. false
memory, and emotional vs. nonemotional memory. We are particularly interested in the
contribution of prefrontal cortex (PFC) and medial temporal lobe (M
Simon Wilton Davis
Assistant Professor in Neurology
My research centers around the use of structural and functional imaging measures to
study the shifts in network architecture in the aging brain. I am specifically interested
in changes in how changes in structural and functional connectivity associated with
aging impact the semantic retrieval of word or fact knowledge. Currently this involves
asking why older adults have particular difficulty in certain kinds of semantic retrieval,
despite the fact that vocabularies and knowledge stores typic
David Joseph Madden
Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
My research focuses primarily on the cognitive neuroscience of aging: the investigation
of age-related changes in perception, attention, and memory, using both behavioral
measures and neuroimaging techniques, including positron emission tomography (PET),
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).
The behavioral measures have focused on reaction time, with the goal of distinguishing
age-related changes in specific cognitive abilities from mo
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