Functional Connectivity Alterations of Cognitive Flexibility in Aging: Different Patterns of Global and Local Switch...

Cognitive flexibility declines with aging and is usually indicated by task switch costs including global and local switch costs. Cognitive flexibility in aging is associated with alterations in functional connectivity. However, whether different task-modulated connectivity mechanisms underlying global and local switch costs remain unclear.

Here we use the support vector machine to identify age-related functional connectivity in global and local switch costs between older (n = 32) and young adults (n = 33). Participants completed a cued task-switching task during the functional magnetic resonance imaging scan.

Results show an age-related decline behaviorally in global but not in local switch costs. Moreover, distinct patterns of age-related alterations of connectivity were observed for each cost. Specifically, only multivariate changes in connectivity patterns were observed for local switch cost, whereas specific age-related connections were revealed for global switch cost. In older adults, the task-modulated left dorsal premotor cortex-left precuneus connectivity decreased, and the left inferior frontal junction-left inferior parietal sulcus connectivity correlated with decreased global switch cost.

This study provides novel evidence for different neural patterns in global and local switch costs by illuminating connectivity mechanisms underlying cognitive flexibility in aging.