Verbal working and long-term episodic memory associations with white matter microstructure in normal aging...

Reductions in the integrity of white matter microstructure are thought to be a significant cause of age-related decline in mnemonic abilities, including working memory (WM) and long-term episodic memory (LTM). This study uses tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) applied to diffusion tensor magnetic resonance images to explore correlations between white matter microstructure and verbal WM and LTM in a sample of 98 normal older adults. WM performance was associated with microstructure in left fronto-parietal pathways and LTM was associated with bilateral fronto-temporal pathways. Interhemispheric-frontal pathways (genu of the corpus callosum) were associated with both types of mnemonic function. We hypothesize that in normal aging, damage to certain white matter pathways may reduce the dynamic efficiency of mnemonic abilities by disrupting the connections within multiple distributed networks. By correlating white matter with two mnemonic functions in the same analysis, we have demonstrated that regional white matter networks may share common mnemonic functions but also may be differentiated for memory types.