This title appears in the Scientific Report :
2021
Please use the identifier:
http://hdl.handle.net/2128/28502 in citations.
Please use the identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01616 in citations.
The Aging Brain and Executive Functions Revisited: Implications from Meta-analytic and Functional Connectivity Evidence
The Aging Brain and Executive Functions Revisited: Implications from Meta-analytic and Functional Connectivity Evidence
Healthy aging is associated with changes in cognitive performance, including executive functions (EFs) and their associated brain activation patterns. However, it has remained unclear which EF-related brain regions are affected consistently, because the results of pertinent neuroimaging studies and...
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Personal Name(s): | Heckner, Marisa K. (Corresponding author) |
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Cieslik, Edna C. (Corresponding author) / Eickhoff, Simon B. / Camilleri, Julia / Hoffstaedter, Felix / Langner, Robert | |
Contributing Institute: |
Gehirn & Verhalten; INM-7 |
Published in: | Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 33 (2021) 9, S. 1716-1752 |
Imprint: |
Cambridge, Mass.
MIT Pr. Journals
2021
|
DOI: |
10.1162/jocn_a_01616 |
PubMed ID: |
32762523 |
Document Type: |
Journal Article |
Research Program: |
Brain Dysfunction and Plasticity (Dys-)function and Plasticity |
Link: |
Get full text Published on 2021-08-01. Available in OpenAccess from 2021-11-01. Published on 2021-08-01. Available in OpenAccess from 2021-11-01. Restricted |
Publikationsportal JuSER |
Please use the identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_01616 in citations.
Healthy aging is associated with changes in cognitive performance, including executive functions (EFs) and their associated brain activation patterns. However, it has remained unclear which EF-related brain regions are affected consistently, because the results of pertinent neuroimaging studies and earlier meta-analyses vary considerably. We, therefore, conducted new rigorous meta-analyses of published age differences in EF-related brain activity. Out of a larger set of regions associated with EFs, only the left inferior frontal junction and the left anterior cuneus/precuneus were found to show consistent age differences. To further characterize these two age-sensitive regions, we performed seed-based resting-state functional connectivity (RS-FC) analyses using fMRI data from a large adult sample with a wide age range. We also assessed associations of the two regions' whole-brain RS-FC patterns with age and EF performance. Although functional profiling and RS-FC analyses point toward a domain-general role of the left inferior frontal junction in EFs, the pattern of individual study contributions to the meta-analytic results suggests process-specific modulations by age. Our analyses further indicate that the left anterior cuneus/precuneus is recruited differently by older (compared with younger) adults during EF tasks, potentially reflecting inefficiencies in switching the attentional focus. Overall, our findings question earlier meta-analytic results and suggest a larger heterogeneity of age-related differences in brain activity associated with EFs. Hence, they encourage future research that pays greater attention to replicability, investigates age-related differences in deactivation, and focuses on more narrowly defined EF subprocesses, combining multiple behavioral assessments with multimodal imaging. |