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A Gaze-Contingent Display Framework for Perceptual Learning Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss

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Diminished top-down control underlies a visual imagery deficit in normal aging.

Jonathan Kalkstein¹, Kristen Checksfield, Jacob Bollinger

¹WM Keck Center For Integrative Neurosciences, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94158-2240, USA.

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience

|November 4, 2011

Summary

Aging impairs mental imagery and visual memory. Older adults show reduced brain region selectivity during visual imagery, linking this decline to memory deficits and disrupted neural networks.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Neuroimaging
Aging Research

Background:

Mental imagery is crucial for cognitive functions like memory and spatial navigation.
Cognitive aging may involve reduced mental imagery fidelity, but this link to memory decline is debated.
Prior fMRI studies show visual imagery engages visual cortex via top-down control.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the impact of normal aging on neural networks supporting mental imagery.
To examine the relationship between imagery-related brain activity and visual memory in older adults.

Main Methods:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to study brain activity during visual imagery in older adults.
Analysis focused on the selectivity of visual cortex activation and functional connectivity between prefrontal and visual cortices.
The study correlated imagery-related neural changes with visual memory performance.

Main Results:

Normal aging was associated with diminished selectivity in visual cortex activation during visual imagery.
A reduction in the selectivity of functional connections between prefrontal and visual cortices was observed in older adults.
Reduced imagery selectivity correlated with poorer visual memory performance in older adults.

Conclusions:

Aging disrupts the neural networks essential for mental imagery.
Diminished imagery selectivity is a potential factor contributing to age-related memory decline.
These findings provide evidence linking neural changes in mental imagery to memory impairments in aging.