Under-recruitment and nonselective recruitment: dissociable neural mechanisms associated with aging.

Full Abstract

Frontal contributions to cognitive decline in aging were explored using functional MRI. Frontal regions active in younger adults during self-initiated (intentional) memory encoding were under-recruited in older adults. Older adults showed less activity in anterior-ventral regions associated with controlled use of semantic information. Under-recruitment was reversed by requiring semantic elaboration suggesting it stemmed from difficulty in spontaneous recruitment of available frontal resources. In addition, older adults recruited multiple frontal regions in a nonselective manner for both verbal and nonverbal materials. Lack of selectivity was not reversed during semantically directed encoding even when under-recruitment was diminished. These findings suggest two separate forms of age-associated change in frontal cortex:
under-recruitment and nonselective recruitment. The former is reversible and potentially amenable to cognitive training; the latter may reflect a less malleable change associated with cognitive decline in advanced aging.

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Author information

Author/s: Logan, Jessica M (JM); Sanders, Amy L (AL); Snyder, Abraham Z (AZ); Morris, John C (JC); Buckner, Randy L (RL);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.

Grants: AG03991 (Agency:NIA NIH HHS) ; AG05681 (Agency:NIA NIH HHS) ; MH57506 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Neuron (Neuron), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Feb; vol 33 (issue 5) : pp 827-40

Dates: Created 2002/03/06; Completed 2002/03/29; Revised 2007/11/14;

PMID: 11879658, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aging - physiology
Cognition - physiology
Female
Frontal Lobe - physiology
Humans

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