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Effect of age on visuomotor functional MR imaging
Aylin Tekes1, Mona A Mohamed, Nina M Browner
1Johns Hopkins Hospital, The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Division of Neuroradiology, 600 N. Wolfe Street/ Phipps B-112, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA.
Academic Radiology
|June 7, 2005
Summary
Functional MRI (fMRI) activation amplitude decreases with age. Young adults show significantly higher brain activation than middle-aged and older adults in visual and motor regions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Aging Research
Background:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a key tool for studying brain activity.
- Understanding how age affects fMRI responses is crucial for interpreting results across different age groups.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of aging on brain activation amplitude during visual and motor tasks using fMRI.
- To test the hypothesis that fMRI activation diminishes with increasing age.
Main Methods:
- A block design visuomotor task was administered to three age groups: young (29 years), middle-aged (52 years), and old (75 years).
- Fixed effects models analyzed activation amplitude in regions of interest: primary motor (LM1), supplementary motor (SMA), and occipital visual areas (RO, LO).
- Group statistical parametric maps and t-tests compared activation amplitudes between age groups.
Main Results:
- Younger adults exhibited significantly higher fMRI activation amplitudes compared to middle-aged and older adults across all tested regions (P < 0.01).
- Significant differences in activation were found between middle-aged and young groups, and between old and young groups in most regions (P ≤ 0.05).
Conclusions:
- fMRI studies demonstrate reduced activation amplitude in older individuals compared to younger ones.
- Age is a significant factor influencing brain activation patterns observed in fMRI experiments.