Main and interactive effects of depression and amnestic mild cognitive impairment on gray matter volumes in healthy older adults: A VBM study

External warning cues temporarily increase the brain's sensitivity for upcoming events. Such increased levels of phasic alertness help individuals to flexibly adapt their reactions to the fast-changing requirements of highly complex visual environments. Previous studies reported that both healthy younger and older adults profit from phasic alerting cues. Arguably, such an intact phasic alerting mechanism could be even more relevant in pathologically aging individuals who are characterized by pronounced reductions of general processing capacity. The present study employed a theory of visual attention based whole report paradigm with auditory cues in order to investigate phasic alerting effects in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) on a purely perceptual level. In addition, aMCI patients were compared to a previously reported sample of healthy older adults. The analysis in aMCI patients indicated that their visual processing speed was significantly higher in the cue compared to the no-cue condition. Across groups, auditory alerting cues significantly increased visual processing speed. Further, visual processing speed was reduced in aMCI patients compared to healthy older adults, replicating prior findings. Taken together, the results suggest that the processing system of aMCI patients exhibits general declines but can still flexibly integrate auditory warning signals. Phasic alerting cues facilitate a temporary increase in processing speed, enabling an efficient handling of upcoming sensory information.

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Gray matter correlates of set-shifting among neurodegenerative disease, mild cognitive impairment, and healthy older adults.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.6079958.6107058 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

Kirk Daffner ◽

Jason Osher

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Neurodegenerative Disease ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Set Shifting ◽

Healthy Older Adults

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Accelerometer Physical Activity is Associated with Greater Gray Matter Volumes in Older Adults Without Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment

The Journals of Gerontology Series B ◽

10.1093/geronb/gby010 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 74 (7) ◽

pp. 1142-1151 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Shannon Halloway ◽

Konstantinos Arfanakis ◽

JoEllen Wilbur ◽

Michael E Schoeny ◽

Susan J Pressler

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Older Adults ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Cognitive Function ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Gray Matter Atrophy ◽

Age Related ◽

Gray Matter Volumes

Abstract Objectives Physical activity (PA) is a modifiable health behavior that can protect against age-related gray matter atrophy and cognitive dysfunction. Current studies of PA and gray matter failed to utilize device measures of PA and do not focus on adults >80 years. Thus, the purpose of this secondary analysis was to examine cross-sectional associations between accelerometer lifestyle PA and (a) gray matter volumes and (b) cognitive function, controlling for demographics, and health status. Method Participants were 262 older adults without dementia or mild cognitive impairment from Rush Memory and Aging Project, an epidemiological cohort study. Participants wore an accelerometer to assess total daily lifestyle PA, and completed anatomical magnetic resonance imaging to assess gray matter volumes and a neurocognitive test battery to assess cognitive function. Results Multivariate linear regression indicated that higher levels of total daily lifestyle PA was significantly related to larger gray matter volumes, F(2, 215) = 3.61, p = .027, including subcortical gray matter (β = 0.17, p = .007) and total gray matter (β = 0.11, p = .049), with no significant associations between lifestyle PA and cognitive function. Discussion These findings may inform future lifestyle PA interventions in order to attenuate age-related gray matter atrophy.

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Gray matter correlates of set-shifting among neurodegenerative disease, mild cognitive impairment, and healthy older adults

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society ◽

10.1017/s1355617710000408 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 640-650 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

JUDY PA ◽

KATHERINE L. POSSIN ◽

STEPHEN M. WILSON ◽

LOVINGLY C. QUITANIA ◽

JOEL H. KRAMER ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Neurodegenerative Disease ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Parietal Lobe ◽

Set Shifting ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Component Processes ◽

Posterior Parietal

AbstractThere is increasing recognition that set-shifting, a form of cognitive control, is mediated by different neural structures. However, these regions have not yet been carefully identified as many studies do not account for the influence of component processes (e.g., motor speed). We investigated gray matter correlates of set-shifting while controlling for component processes. Using the Design Fluency (DF), Trail Making Test (TMT), and Color Word Interference (CWI) subtests from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS), we investigated the correlation between set-shifting performance and gray matter volume in 160 subjects with neurodegenerative disease, mild cognitive impairment, and healthy older adults using voxel-based morphometry. All three set-shifting tasks correlated with multiple, widespread gray matter regions. After controlling for the component processes, set-shifting performance correlated with focal regions in prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices. We also identified bilateral prefrontal cortex and the right posterior parietal lobe as common sites for set-shifting across the three tasks. There was a high degree of multicollinearity between the set-shifting conditions and the component processes of TMT and CWI, suggesting DF may better isolate set-shifting regions. Overall, these findings highlight the neuroanatomical correlates of set-shifting and the importance of controlling for component processes when investigating complex cognitive tasks. (JINS, 2010, 16, 640–650.)

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Exercise Training-Related Changes in Cortical Gray Matter Diffusivity and Cognitive Function in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Healthy Older Adults

Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnagi.2021.645258 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

Author(s):

Daniel D. Callow ◽

Junyeon Won ◽

Gabriel S. Pena ◽

Leslie S. Jordan ◽

Naomi A. Arnold-Nedimala ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Exercise Training ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Verbal Fluency ◽

Verbal Learning ◽

Insular Cortex ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Cortical Gray Matter

Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) are at an elevated risk of dementia and exhibit deficits in cognition and cortical gray matter (GM) volume, thickness, and microstructure. Meanwhile, exercise training appears to preserve brain function and macrostructure may help delay or prevent the onset of dementia in individuals with MCI. Yet, our understanding of the neurophysiological effects of exercise training in individuals with MCI remains limited. Recent work suggests that the measures of gray matter microstructure using diffusion imaging may be sensitive to early cognitive and neurophysiological changes in the aging brain. Therefore, this study is aimed to determine the effects of exercise training in cognition and cortical gray matter microstructure in individuals with MCI vs. cognitively healthy older adults. Fifteen MCI participants and 17 cognitively intact controls (HC) volunteered for a 12-week supervised walking intervention. Following the intervention, MCI and HC saw improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness, performance on Trial 1 of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), a measure of verbal memory, and the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT), a measure of verbal fluency. After controlling for age, a voxel-wise analysis of cortical gray matter diffusivity showed individuals with MCI exhibited greater increases in mean diffusivity (MD) in the left insular cortex than HC. This increase in MD was positively associated with improvements in COWAT performance. Additionally, after controlling for age, the voxel-wise analysis indicated a main effect of Time with both groups experiencing an increase in left insular and left and right cerebellar MD. Increases in left insular diffusivity were similarly found to be positively associated with improvements in COWAT performance in both groups, while increases in cerebellar MD were related to gains in episodic memory performance. These findings suggest that exercise training may be related to improvements in neural circuits that govern verbal fluency performance in older adults through the microstructural remodeling of cortical gray matter. Furthermore, changes in left insular cortex microstructure may be particularly relevant to improvements in verbal fluency among individuals diagnosed with MCI.

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