Neural Correlates of Working Memory Maintenance in Advanced Aging: Evidence From fMRI

Working memory (WM)-related brain activity is known to be modulated by aging; particularly, older adults demonstrate greater activity than young adults. However, it is still unclear whether the activity increase in older adults is also observed in advanced aging. The present functional magnetic reso...

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Main Authors: Maki Suzuki, Toshikazu Kawagoe, Shu Nishiguchi, Nobuhito Abe, Yuki Otsuka, Ryusuke Nakai, Kohei Asano, Minoru Yamada, Sakiko Yoshikawa, Kaoru Sekiyama
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-11-01
Series:Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnagi.2018.00358/full
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spelling doaj-1344b64cfdc34d07874aa70807fb3e5f2020-11-24T23:38:03ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience1663-43652018-11-011010.3389/fnagi.2018.00358300528Neural Correlates of Working Memory Maintenance in Advanced Aging: Evidence From fMRIMaki Suzuki0Maki Suzuki1Toshikazu Kawagoe2Shu Nishiguchi3Nobuhito Abe4Yuki Otsuka5Ryusuke Nakai6Kohei Asano7Minoru Yamada8Sakiko Yoshikawa9Kaoru Sekiyama10Kaoru Sekiyama11Division of Cognitive Psychology, Faculty of Letters, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, JapanDepartment of Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry, United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Suita, JapanDivision of Human and Social Sciences, Graduate School of Social and Cultural Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, JapanDepartment of Human Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, JapanKokoro Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, JapanKokoro Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, JapanKokoro Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, JapanKokoro Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, JapanDepartment of Human Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, JapanKokoro Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, JapanDivision of Cognitive Psychology, Faculty of Letters, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, JapanGraduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, Kyoto, JapanWorking memory (WM)-related brain activity is known to be modulated by aging; particularly, older adults demonstrate greater activity than young adults. However, it is still unclear whether the activity increase in older adults is also observed in advanced aging. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was designed to clarify the neural correlates of WM in advanced aging. Further, we set out to investigate in the case that adults of advanced age do show age-related increase in WM-related activity, what the functional significance of this over-recruitment might be. Two groups of older adults – “young–old” (61–70 years, n = 17) and “old–old” (77–82 years, n = 16) – were scanned while performing a visual WM task (the n-back task: 0-back and 1-back). WM effects (1-back > 0-back) common to both age groups were identified in several regions, including the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), the inferior parietal cortex, and the insula. Greater WM effects in the old–old than in the young–old group were identified in the right caudal DLPFC. These results were replicated when we performed a separate analysis between two age groups with the same level of WM performance (the young–old vs. a “high-performing” subset of the old–old group). There were no regions where WM effects were greater in the young–old group than in the old–old group. Importantly, the magnitude of the over-recruitment WM effects positively correlated with WM performance in the old–old group, but not in the young–old group. The present findings suggest that cortical over-recruitment occurs in advanced old age, and that increased activity may serve a compensatory function in mediating WM performance.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnagi.2018.00358/fullagingfMRIover-recruitmentcompensationworking memorymaintenance
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Maki Suzuki
Maki Suzuki
Toshikazu Kawagoe
Shu Nishiguchi
Nobuhito Abe
Yuki Otsuka
Ryusuke Nakai
Kohei Asano
Minoru Yamada
Sakiko Yoshikawa
Kaoru Sekiyama
Kaoru Sekiyama
spellingShingle Maki Suzuki
Maki Suzuki
Toshikazu Kawagoe
Shu Nishiguchi
Nobuhito Abe
Yuki Otsuka
Ryusuke Nakai
Kohei Asano
Minoru Yamada
Sakiko Yoshikawa
Kaoru Sekiyama
Kaoru Sekiyama
Neural Correlates of Working Memory Maintenance in Advanced Aging: Evidence From fMRI
Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
aging
fMRI
over-recruitment
compensation
working memory
maintenance
author_facet Maki Suzuki
Maki Suzuki
Toshikazu Kawagoe
Shu Nishiguchi
Nobuhito Abe
Yuki Otsuka
Ryusuke Nakai
Kohei Asano
Minoru Yamada
Sakiko Yoshikawa
Kaoru Sekiyama
Kaoru Sekiyama
author_sort Maki Suzuki
title Neural Correlates of Working Memory Maintenance in Advanced Aging: Evidence From fMRI
title_short Neural Correlates of Working Memory Maintenance in Advanced Aging: Evidence From fMRI
title_full Neural Correlates of Working Memory Maintenance in Advanced Aging: Evidence From fMRI
title_fullStr Neural Correlates of Working Memory Maintenance in Advanced Aging: Evidence From fMRI
title_full_unstemmed Neural Correlates of Working Memory Maintenance in Advanced Aging: Evidence From fMRI
title_sort neural correlates of working memory maintenance in advanced aging: evidence from fmri
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
series Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience
issn 1663-4365
publishDate 2018-11-01
description Working memory (WM)-related brain activity is known to be modulated by aging; particularly, older adults demonstrate greater activity than young adults. However, it is still unclear whether the activity increase in older adults is also observed in advanced aging. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was designed to clarify the neural correlates of WM in advanced aging. Further, we set out to investigate in the case that adults of advanced age do show age-related increase in WM-related activity, what the functional significance of this over-recruitment might be. Two groups of older adults – “young–old” (61–70 years, n = 17) and “old–old” (77–82 years, n = 16) – were scanned while performing a visual WM task (the n-back task: 0-back and 1-back). WM effects (1-back > 0-back) common to both age groups were identified in several regions, including the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), the inferior parietal cortex, and the insula. Greater WM effects in the old–old than in the young–old group were identified in the right caudal DLPFC. These results were replicated when we performed a separate analysis between two age groups with the same level of WM performance (the young–old vs. a “high-performing” subset of the old–old group). There were no regions where WM effects were greater in the young–old group than in the old–old group. Importantly, the magnitude of the over-recruitment WM effects positively correlated with WM performance in the old–old group, but not in the young–old group. The present findings suggest that cortical over-recruitment occurs in advanced old age, and that increased activity may serve a compensatory function in mediating WM performance.
topic aging
fMRI
over-recruitment
compensation
working memory
maintenance
url https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnagi.2018.00358/full
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