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Interaction Between Age and Task Demand on Brain Connectivity Associated With Mastication
Chia-Shu Lin1,2,3,4, Wei-Chieh Kao1
1Department of Dentistry, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei City, Taiwan.
Journal of Oral Rehabilitation
|May 23, 2025
Summary
Brain connectivity linked to chewing ability changes with age and task difficulty. Older adults with better chewing show stronger connections in sensorimotor areas, while younger adults engage networks outside this region during demanding tasks.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Gerontology
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Sensorimotor processing is vital for the aging brain and geriatric health.
- Masticatory performance (MP) significantly impacts overall health in older adults.
- Research suggests a link between brain functional connectivity (FC) and MP.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the functional connectivity (FC) associated with masticatory performance (MP).
- To examine how task demand and age influence the brain's functional connectivity during mastication.
- To utilize the masticatory perturbation task (MPT) to explore these relationships.
Main Methods:
- Recruited participants across three age groups: younger-age (YA, <40), middle-aged (MA, 40-64), and older-age (OA, ≥65).
- Conducted structural and resting-state (rs) functional MRI (fMRI) scans.
- Analyzed seed-based connectivity and FC networks during baseline and perturbed MPT conditions.
Main Results:
- Better MP in OA correlated with higher rs-FC between the cerebellum and sensorimotor cortices (baseline).
- In perturbation, better MP in OA linked to higher rs-FC (middle frontal gyrus-somatosensory cortex), and in MA to (supplementary motor area-caudate nucleus).
- rs-FC patterns related to MP varied by age and task condition, with YA showing increased rs-FC outside the sensorimotor network during perturbation.
Conclusions:
- Age and task demand interactively influence resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) related to masticatory performance.
- Findings highlight the dynamic neural adaptations supporting mastication across the lifespan.
- Provides novel insights into sensorimotor control and brain health in aging individuals.
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