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Brain Functional Correlates of Working Memory: Reduced Load-Modulated Activation and Deactivation in Aging without Hyperactivation or Functional Reorganization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2014

Allison R. Kaup ,
Sean P.A. Drummond  and
Lisa T. Eyler
Allison R. Kaup*
Affiliation:
Sierra Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, San Francisco VA Medical Center and the Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California San Diego State University / University of California San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego, California
Sean P.A. Drummond
Affiliation:
Psychology Service, VA San Diego Health Care System, San Diego, California Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California
Lisa T. Eyler
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California The Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Allison R. Kaup, San Francisco VA Medical Center, 4150 Clement Street, 116H, San Francisco, CA 94121. E-mail: allison.kaup@ucsf.edu
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Abstract

We aimed to identify brain functional correlates of working memory performance in aging, in hopes of facilitating understanding of mechanisms that promote better versus worse working memory in late-life. Among 64 healthy adults, aged 23 to 78, we examined the relationship between age, working memory performance, and brain functional response during task performance. We focused on the association between working memory load-modulated functional response and individual differences in performance and whether these function-performance relationships differed with age. As expected, older age was associated with poorer working memory performance. Older age was also associated with reduced load-modulated activation including in bilateral prefrontal and parietal regions and left caudate as well as reduced deactivation including in the medial prefrontal cortex. Contrary to findings of hyperactivation in aging, we found no evidence of increased activation with older age. Positive associations identified between brain response and performance did not differ with age. Our findings suggest that the neural mechanisms underlying better versus worse working memory performance are age-invariant across adulthood, and argue against a pattern of functional reorganization in aging. Results are discussed within the broader literature, in which significant heterogeneity in findings between studies has been common. (JINS, 2014, 20, 1–6)

Keywords

AgingWorking memoryCognitionFunctional neuroimagingfMRIIndividual differences
Type
Brief Communication
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 20 , Supplement 9 , October 2014 , pp. 945 - 950
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2014 

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