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Functional magnetic resonance imaging study of word recognition in normal elders
Karen E Anderson1, Gerard M Perera, John Hilton
1Department of Neurology Movement Disorders, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore 21201, USA. kanderson@psych.umaryland.edu
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry
|August 22, 2002
Summary
Healthy elders showed increased brain activity in specific regions during challenging word recognition tasks. This suggests they recruit additional brain areas or use right hemisphere networks to maintain cognitive performance with aging.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- Cognitive function can change with aging.
- Understanding brain activity in elders during cognitive tasks is crucial for healthy aging research.
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a key tool for studying brain function.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate brain activation patterns in healthy elders during a word recognition task.
- To compare brain activity between low-demand and titrated-demand conditions.
Main Methods:
- Four healthy, cognitively intact elders participated.
- Participants underwent fMRI scanning.
- A word recognition task with varying difficulty levels (low vs. titrated demand) was employed.
Main Results:
- Titrated demand, compared to low demand, showed increased activation in the left medial frontal cortex.
- Increased activation was also observed in the right superior temporal and right superior parietal cortices.
- Bilateral cortical activation increased with higher task demand.
Conclusions:
- Increased bilateral activation in elders during challenging tasks may indicate recruitment of additional brain regions.
- This recruitment could enable maintained performance despite increasing cognitive difficulty.
- Alternatively, bilateral activation might reflect compensatory use of right hemisphere networks in aging.