Journal article
Age-related differences in cortical recruitment and suppression: Implications for cognitive performance
Behavioural brain research, Vol.230(1), pp.192-200
04/21/2012
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.01.058
PMID: 22348896
Abstract
► Older adults show reduced responsivity of the prefrontal and parietal cortices in response to increasing task demands. ► Aging is associated with a reduced deactivation of the regions comprising the default-mode network with increasing task difficulty. ► Better working memory performance for young adults associated with up-regulation of prefrontal and parietal sites. ► Better performance for older adults associated with down-regulation of posterior cingulate cortex.
The discovery of a coherent set of cortical regions showing activation during rest and deactivation during task performance has reignited an old debate in the field of neuroscience, one that questions the reflexivity of the human brain and provides evidence towards a more intrinsic functional architecture. The default-mode network (DMN) comprising of such consistent cortical regions has become a topic of increasing interest in both healthy and diseased populations. In this study, using a well-examined version of the verbal n-back task, interleaved with periods of rest blocks, we investigated whether the deactivation of the cortical regions comprising the DMN moderates individual differences in behavioral performance in a group of older adults. We recruited 25 young and 25 older adults for our study and presented them with blocks of the n-back task, with varying levels of load, interleaved with periods of fixation. A direct comparison of the young and older participants revealed both a reduction in the up-regulation of the prefrontal and parietal regions in response to increasing task demands, along with a reduction in the down-regulation of DMN regions with increasing cognitive load in the elderly. Better performance in the young adults was associated with the capability to modulate the regions of the working memory network with increasing task difficulty, however enhanced performance in the older cohort was associated with greater load-induced deactivation of the posterior cingulate cortex. This study adds to the existing gamut of aging literature, providing evidence that DMN function is critical to cognitive functioning in older adults.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Age-related differences in cortical recruitment and suppression: Implications for cognitive performance
- Creators
- Ruchika Shaurya Prakash - Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United StatesSusie Heo - Department of Psychology & Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United StatesMichelle W Voss - Department of Psychology & Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United StatesBeth Patterson - Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United StatesArthur F Kramer - Department of Psychology & Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Behavioural brain research, Vol.230(1), pp.192-200
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.01.058
- PMID
- 22348896
- NLM abbreviation
- Behav Brain Res
- ISSN
- 0166-4328
- eISSN
- 1872-7549
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 04/21/2012
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984002469802771
Metrics
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