Impacts of normal aging on different working memory tasks: implications from an fMRI study

To evaluate patterns of activation, convergence and divergence of three functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) Working Memory (WM) tasks in two different age groups. We want to understand potential impact of task and subjects' age on WM activations as well as most important areas with reg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioural neurology 2013-01, Vol.27 (3), p.235-244
Main Authors: Fakhri, Mohammad, Sikaroodi, Hajir, Maleki, Farid, Ghanaati, Hossein, Oghabian, Mohammad Ali
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aging - physiology
Aging - psychology
Auditory Perception - physiology
Brain Mapping
Female
Frontal Lobe - physiology
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Memory, Short-Term - physiology
Middle Aged
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Visual Perception - physiology
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Summary:To evaluate patterns of activation, convergence and divergence of three functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) Working Memory (WM) tasks in two different age groups. We want to understand potential impact of task and subjects' age on WM activations as well as most important areas with regard to WM functions. Thirty-five healthy volunteers completed visual, verbal, and novel auditory WM tasks. The subjects were selected from age extremes to depict possible impact of normal aging. General Linear Model was used to report significant activations and the effect of group. One-to-one comparison of the tasks and Combined Task Analysis was also performed. Most of the observed differences between the tasks were seen in areas that were responsible for feature processing. Frontal regions were mainstay activation areas, regardless of the utilized stimulus. We found an age-related reduction in activity of visual (in visually-presented tasks) and auditory (in auditory task) cortices but an age-related increase in prefrontal cortex for all tasks. Regardless of the type of the task stimuli, frontal regions are the most important activation areas in WM processing. These areas are also main targets of age-related changes with regard to activation patterns. Our results also indicate that prefrontal overactivity in working memory might be a compensatory effort to mask age-related decline in sensory processing.
ISSN:0953-4180
1875-8584
DOI:10.1155/2013/103105