The functional oculomotor network and saccadic cognitive control in healthy elders

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Aging
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• Executive function decline is a common aspect of aging and a potential risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases.
• The antisaccade (AS) task is a validated measure of executive function, assessing inhibitory control.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the functional connectivity of the cortical oculomotor network during successful AS task performance in healthy older adults.
• To identify neural correlates of executive function and cognitive decline in aging.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) activity.
• Analysis of functional connectivity and network efficiency during the AS task.
• Examination of specific brain regions including the right lateral frontal eye field (rlatFEF), right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC), and anterior cingulate cortex (rACC).

Main Results:

• Elevated BOLD activity in the rlatFEF correlated with worse AS performance and reduced network efficiency.
• Stronger hub integrity in the rDLPFC and rACC was associated with better AS performance.
• These findings highlight distinct roles for different frontal regions in maintaining executive function during aging.

Conclusions:

• The rlatFEF may show early neural aberrations associated with cognitive decline in aging.
• The rDLPFC and rACC play crucial roles in supporting inhibitory cognitive control in healthy elders.
• Alterations in AS task functional connectivity, specifically hub and network efficiency, may serve as clinical biomarkers for executive function decline.