scholarly journals Functional and Pathological Correlates of Judgments of Learning in Cognitively Unimpaired Older Adults

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 1974-1983
Author(s):  
Federico d’Oleire Uquillas ◽  
Heidi I L Jacobs ◽  
Aaron P Schultz ◽  
Bernard J Hanseeuw ◽  
Rachel F Buckley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Amyloid Β ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Judgments Of Learning ◽  
Aging Brain ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Tau Pathology ◽  
Brain Study

Abstract Judgments of learning (JOL) pertain to introspective metamemory processes evaluating how well information is learned. Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task, we investigated the neural substrates of JOL predictions in a group of 105 cognitively unimpaired older adults from the Harvard Aging Brain Study. Associations of JOL performance and its neural correlates with amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau pathology, two proteinopathies associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and aging, were also examined. We found that trials judged as learned well relative to trials judged as learned less well (high JOL > low JOL) engaged the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and precuneus, among other midline regions, in addition to bilateral hippocampi. In this cohort of older adults, greater levels of entorhinal tau deposition were associated with overestimation of memory performance and with lower fMRI signal in midline regions during predicted memory success. No associations with Aβ were found. The findings suggest that tau pathology in unimpaired older adults may play a role in altered metamemory processes. We discuss our findings in light of the hypothesis that JOLs are partially dependent on a process involving attempts to retrieve a correct answer from memory, as well as implications for clinical research investigating unawareness of memory performance (i.e., anosognosia) in patients with AD dementia.

scholarly journals Cortical tau deposition follows patterns of entorhinal functional connectivity in aging

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenna N Adams ◽  
Anne Maass ◽  
Theresa M Harrison ◽  
Suzanne L Baker ◽  
William J Jagust
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Amyloid Β ◽  
Resting State Fmri ◽  
Aging Brain ◽  
Functional Specialization ◽  
Tau Pathology ◽  
Cognitively Normal ◽  
Neural Connections

Tau pathology first appears in the transentorhinal and anterolateral entorhinal cortex (alEC) in the aging brain. The transition to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is hypothesized to involve amyloid-β (Aβ) facilitated tau spread through neural connections. We contrasted functional connectivity (FC) of alEC and posteromedial EC (pmEC), subregions of EC that differ in functional specialization and cortical connectivity, with the hypothesis that alEC-connected cortex would show greater tau deposition than pmEC-connected cortex. We used resting state fMRI to measure FC, and PET to measure tau and Aβ in cognitively normal older adults. Tau preferentially deposited in alEC-connected cortex compared to pmEC-connected or non-connected cortex, and stronger connectivity was associated with increased tau deposition. FC-tau relationships were present regardless of Aβ, although strengthened with Aβ. These results provide an explanation for the anatomic specificity of neocortical tau deposition in the aging brain and reveal relationships between normal aging and the evolution of AD.

scholarly journals The presubiculum links incipient amyloid and tau pathology to memory function in older persons

Neurology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 94 (18) ◽  
pp. e1916-e1928
Author(s):  
Heidi I.L. Jacobs ◽  
Jean C. Augustinack ◽  
Aaron P. Schultz ◽  
Bernard J. Hanseeuw ◽  
Joseph Locascio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Hippocampal Volume ◽  
Cognitive Testing ◽  
Pet Scan ◽  
Aging Brain ◽  
Amyloid Pet ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Amyloid Burden ◽  
Tau Pathology

ObjectiveTo identify the hippocampal subregions linking initial amyloid and tau pathology to memory performance in clinically normal older individuals, reflecting preclinical Alzheimer disease (AD).MethodsA total of 127 individuals from the Harvard Aging Brain Study (mean age 76.22 ± 6.42 years, 68 women [53.5%]) with a Clinical Dementia Rating score of 0, a flortaucipir tau-PET scan, a Pittsburgh compound B amyloid-PET scan, a structural MRI scan, and cognitive testing were included. From these images, we calculated neocortical, hippocampal, and entorhinal amyloid pathology; entorhinal and hippocampal tau pathology; and the volumes of 6 hippocampal subregions and total hippocampal volume. Memory was assessed with the selective reminding test. Mediation and moderation analyses modeled associations between regional markers and memory. Analyses included covariates for age, sex, and education.ResultsNeocortical amyloid, entorhinal tau, and presubiculum volume univariately associated with memory performance. The relationship between neocortical amyloid and memory was mediated by entorhinal tau and presubiculum volume, which was modified by hippocampal amyloid burden. With other biomarkers held constant, presubiculum volume was the only marker predicting memory performance in the total sample and in individuals with elevated hippocampal amyloid burden.ConclusionsThe presubiculum captures unique AD-related biological variation that is not reflected in total hippocampal volume. Presubiculum volume may be a promising marker of imminent memory problems and can contribute to understanding the interaction between incipient AD-related pathologies and memory performance. The modulation by hippocampal amyloid suggests that amyloid is a necessary, but not sufficient, process to drive neurodegeneration in memory-related regions.

scholarly journals Frontal Structural Neural Correlates of Working Memory Performance in Older Adults

2017 ◽  
Vol 08 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole R. Nissim ◽  
Andrew M. O’Shea ◽  
Vaughn Bryant ◽  
Eric C. Porges ◽  
Ronald Cohen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Neural Correlates

scholarly journals Aging and the Neural Correlates of Successful Picture Encoding: Frontal Activations Compensate for Decreased Medial-Temporal Activity

2005 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela H. Gutchess ◽  
Robert C. Welsh ◽  
Trey Hedden ◽  
Ashley Bangert ◽  
Meredith Minear ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Fmri Analysis ◽  
Incidental Encoding

We investigated the hypothesis that increased prefrontal activations in older adults are compensatory for decreases in medial-temporal activations that occur with age. Because scene encoding engages both hippocampal and prefrontal sites, we examined incidental encoding of scenes by 14 young and 13 older adults in a subsequent memory paradigm using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Behavioral results indicated that there were equivalent numbers of remembered and forgotten items, which did not vary as a function of age. In an fMRI analysis subtracting forgotten items from remembered items, younger and older adults both activated inferior frontal and lateral occipital regions bilaterally; however, older adults showed less activation than young adults in the left and right parahippocampus and more activation than young adults in the middle frontal cortex. Moreover, correlations between inferior frontal and parahippocampal activity were significantly negative for old but not young, suggesting that those older adults who showed the least engagement of the parahippocampus activated inferior frontal areas the most. Because the analyses included only the unique activations associated with remembered items, these data suggest that prefrontal regions could serve a compensatory role for declines in medial-temporal activations with age.

scholarly journals Rates of age‐ and amyloid β‐associated cortical atrophy in older adults with superior memory performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 566-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christa Dang ◽  
Nawaf Yassi ◽  
Karra D. Harrington ◽  
Ying Xia ◽  
Yen Ying Lim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Amyloid Β ◽  
Cortical Atrophy ◽  
Superior Memory

Self-Construal Priming Modulates Neural Substrates of Self-Awareness

2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 861-866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Sui ◽  
Shihui Han
Keyword(s):  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Head Orientation ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Self Construal ◽  
Human Adults ◽  
Frontal Activity ◽  
Construal Priming ◽  
The Right

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess whether self-construal priming can change adults' self-awareness induced during face perception. After reading essays containing independent or interdependent pronouns (e.g., I or we), participants were scanned while judging the head orientation of images showing their own and familiar faces. Neural activity in the right middle frontal cortex was greater when participants viewed their own rather than familiar faces, and this difference was larger after independent than after interdependent self-construal priming. The increased right frontal activity for participants' own faces relative to familiar faces was associated with faster responses. Our findings suggest that the neural correlates of self-awareness associated with recognition of one's own face can be modulated by self-construal priming in human adults.

scholarly journals Association of Digital Clock Drawing With PET Amyloid and Tau Pathology in Normal Older Adults

Neurology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 96 (14) ◽  
pp. e1844-e1854
Author(s):  
Dorene M. Rentz ◽  
Kathryn V. Papp ◽  
Danielle V. Mayblyum ◽  
Justin S. Sanchez ◽  
Hannah Klein ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Pet Imaging ◽  
Receiver Operating Curve ◽  
Aging Brain ◽  
Tau Pathology ◽  
Digital Clock ◽  
Clock Drawing ◽  
Tau Pet ◽  
Tau Pet Imaging ◽  
Receiver Operating

ObjectiveTo determine whether a digital clock-drawing test, DCTclock, improves upon standard cognitive assessments for discriminating diagnostic groups and for detecting biomarker evidence of amyloid and tau pathology in clinically normal older adults (CN).MethodsParticipants from the Harvard Aging Brain Study and the PET laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital were recruited to undergo the DCTclock, standard neuropsychological assessments including the Preclinical Alzheimer Cognitive Composite (PACC), and amyloid/tau PET imaging. Receiver operating curve analyses were used to assess diagnostic and biomarker discriminability. Logistic regression and partial correlations were used to assess DCTclock performance in relation to PACC and PET biomarkers.ResultsA total of 300 participants were studied. Among the 264 CN participants, 143 had amyloid and tau PET imaging (Clinical Dementia Rating [CDR] 0, Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE] 28.9 ± 1.2). An additional 36 participants with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer dementia (CDR 0.5, MMSE 25.2 ± 3.9) were added to assess diagnostic discriminability. DCTclock showed excellent discrimination between diagnostic groups (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 0.86). Among CN participants with biomarkers, the DCTclock summary score and spatial reasoning subscores were associated with greater amyloid and tau burden and showed better discrimination (Cohen d = 0.76) between Aβ± groups than the PACC (d = 0.30).ConclusionDCTclock discriminates between diagnostic groups and improves upon traditional cognitive tests for detecting biomarkers of amyloid and tau pathology in CN older adults. The validation of such digitized measures has the potential of providing an efficient tool for detecting early cognitive changes along the AD trajectory.Classification of EvidenceThis study provides Class II evidence that DCTclock results were associated with amyloid and tau burden in CN older adults.

scholarly journals Neural Correlates of Enhanced Memory for Meaningful Associations with Age

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 4568-4579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarek Amer ◽  
Kelly S Giovanello ◽  
Daniel R Nichol ◽  
Lynn Hasher ◽  
Cheryl L Grady
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Cognitive Failure ◽  
Connectivity Patterns ◽  
Control Regions

Abstract Evidence suggests that age differences in associative memory are attenuated for associations that are consistent with prior knowledge. Such knowledge structures have traditionally been associated with the default network (DN), which also shows reduced modulation with age. In the present study, we investigated whether DN activity and connectivity patterns could account for this age-related effect. Younger and older adults underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging as they learned realistic and unrealistic prices of common grocery items. Both groups showed greater activity in the DN during the encoding of realistic, relative to unrealistic, prices. Moreover, DN activity at encoding and retrieval and its connectivity with an attention control network at encoding were associated with enhanced memory for realistic prices. Finally, older adults showed overactivation of control regions during retrieval of realistic prices relative to younger adults. Our findings suggest that DN activity and connectivity patterns (traditionally viewed as indicators of cognitive failure with age), and additional recruitment of control regions, might underlie older adults’ enhanced memory for meaningful associations.

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