scholarly journals Trying to Put the Puzzle Together: Age and Performance Level Modulate the Neural Response to Increasing Task Load within Left Rostral Prefrontal Cortex

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Bauer ◽  
Gebhard Sammer ◽  
Max Toepper
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Load Level ◽  
Performance Level ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
Task Load ◽  
Age Related ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Rostral Prefrontal Cortex

Age-related working memory decline is associated with functional cerebral changes within prefrontal cortex (PFC). Kind and meaning of these changes are heavily discussed since they depend on performance level and task load. Hence, we investigated the effects of age, performance level, and load on spatial working memory retrieval-related brain activation in different subregions of the PFC. 19 younger (Y) and 21 older (O) adults who were further subdivided into high performers (HP) and low performers (LP) performed a modified version of the Corsi Block-Tapping test during fMRI. Brain data was analyzed by a 4 (groups: YHP, OHP, YLP, and OLP) × 3 (load levels: loads 4, 5, and 6) ANOVA. Results revealed significant group × load interaction effects within rostral dorsolateral and ventrolateral PFC. YHP showed a flexible neural upregulation with increasing load, whereas YLP reached a resource ceiling at a moderate load level. OHP showed a similar (though less intense) pattern as YHP and may have compensated age-effects at high task load. OLP showed neural inefficiency at low and no upregulation at higher load. Our findings highlight the relevance of age and performance level for load-dependent activation within rostral PFC. Results are discussed in the context of the compensation-related utilization of neural circuits hypothesis (CRUNCH) and functional PFC organization.

scholarly journals Hemodynamic Analysis of the Prefrontal Cortex to Verify the Relationship Between Athlete Performance Level and Auditory-Spatial Working Memory: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-377
Author(s):  
Tai-Seok Chang ◽  
Seo-Jin Youn
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Behavioral Response ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Performance Level ◽  
Back Reaction ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Memory Ability

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference between the performance level and working memory of athletes through behavioral response measurements and hemodynamic measurements of the prefrontal cortex.METHODS: The study included 12 higher-level athletes, 12 athletes, and 12 non-athletes. The study task was to perform auditory-spatial working memory tasks according to difficulty (1 back, 2 back). Reaction times and hemodynamic changes in the cerebral prefrontal cortex were measured using the NIRSIT instrument during task performance.RESULTS: Behavioral response measurements of the superior players showed faster reaction times in the 1-back and 2-back tasks compared to the other two groups, and the functional connectivity of the cerebral prefrontal cortex showed strong activation in the 2-back task.CONCLUSIONS: In the case of higher-level athletes, it is suggested that working memory ability and motor performance are significant, and that working memory ability can be an important variable in sports situations.

scholarly journals Curcumin Ameliorates the Cd-Induced Anxiety-like Behavior in Mice by Regulating Oxidative Stress and Neuro-Inflammatory Proteins in the Prefrontal Cortex Region of the Brain

Antioxidants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1710
Author(s):  
Dhondup Namgyal ◽  
Sher Ali ◽  
Muhammad Delwar Hussain ◽  
Mohsin Kazi ◽  
Ajaz Ahmad ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Cellular Mechanisms ◽  
Behavioral Impairment ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Brain ◽  
And Oxidative Stress

Age-related neurodegenerative diseases and vascular dementia are major challenges to the modern health care system. Most neurodegenerative diseases are associated with impaired spatial working memory and anxiety-like behavior. Thus, it is important to understand the underlying cellular mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases in different regions of the brain to develop an effective therapeutic approach. In our previous research paper, we have reported the ameliorative effect of curcumin in Cd-induced hippocampal neurodegeneration. However, recently many researchers had reported the important role of the prefrontal cortex in higher cognitive functions. Therefore, to look into the cellular mechanism of curcumin protection against Cd-induced prefrontal cortex neurotoxicity, we investigated spatial working memory, anxiety-like behavior and analyzed prefrontal cortex inflammatory markers (IL-6, IL-10, and TNFα), antioxidant enzymes (SOD, GSH, and CAT), and pro-oxidant MDA level. Further, we conducted histological studies of the prefrontal cortex in Swiss albino mice exposed to cadmium (2.5 mg/kg). We observed that curcumin treatment improved the spatial working memory and anxiety-like behavior of mice through reduction of prefrontal cortex neuroinflammation and oxidative stress as well as increasing the number of viable prefrontal cortex neuronal cells. Our result suggests that environmental heavy metal cadmium can induce behavioral impairment in mice through prefrontal cortex cellular inflammation and oxidative stress. We found that curcumin has a potential therapeutic property to mitigate these behavioral and biochemical impairments induced by cadmium.

scholarly journals Resting‐State EEG Microstates Parallel Age‐Related Differences in Allocentric Spatial Working Memory Performance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adeline Jabès ◽  
Giuliana Klencklen ◽  
Paolo Ruggeri ◽  
Christoph M. Michel ◽  
Pamela Banta Lavenex ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Age Related

AbstractAlterations of resting-state EEG microstates have been associated with various neurological disorders and behavioral states. Interestingly, age-related differences in EEG microstate organization have also been reported, and it has been suggested that resting-state EEG activity may predict cognitive capacities in healthy individuals across the lifespan. In this exploratory study, we performed a microstate analysis of resting-state brain activity and tested allocentric spatial working memory performance in healthy adult individuals: twenty 25–30-year-olds and twenty-five 64–75-year-olds. We found a lower spatial working memory performance in older adults, as well as age-related differences in the five EEG microstate maps A, B, C, C′ and D, but especially in microstate maps C and C′. These two maps have been linked to neuronal activity in the frontal and parietal brain regions which are associated with working memory and attention, cognitive functions that have been shown to be sensitive to aging. Older adults exhibited lower global explained variance and occurrence of maps C and C′. Moreover, although there was a higher probability to transition from any map towards maps C, C′ and D in young and older adults, this probability was lower in older adults. Finally, although age-related differences in resting-state EEG microstates paralleled differences in allocentric spatial working memory performance, we found no evidence that any individual or combination of resting-state EEG microstate parameter(s) could reliably predict individual spatial working memory performance. Whether the temporal dynamics of EEG microstates may be used to assess healthy cognitive aging from resting-state brain activity requires further investigation.

scholarly journals The role of prefrontal cortex in working memory: examining the contents of consciousness

1998 ◽  
Vol 353 (1377) ◽  
pp. 1819-1828 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
S. M. Courtney ◽  
L. Petit ◽  
J. V. Haxby ◽  
L. G. Ungerleider
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Domain Specificity ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
The Right

Working memory enables us to hold in our ‘mind's eye’ the contents of our conscious awareness, even in the absence of sensory input, by maintaining an active representation of information for a brief period of time. In this review we consider the functional organization of the prefrontal cortex and its role in this cognitive process. First, we present evidence from brain–imaging studies that prefrontal cortex shows sustained activity during the delay period of visual working memory tasks, indicating that this cortex maintains on–line representations of stimuli after they are removed from view. We then present evidence for domain specificity within frontal cortex based on the type of information, with object working memory mediated by more ventral frontal regions and spatial working memory mediated by more dorsal frontal regions. We also propose that a second dimension for domain specificity within prefrontal cortex might exist for object working memory on the basis of the type of representation, with analytic representations maintained preferentially in the left hemisphere and image–based representations maintained preferentially in the right hemisphere. Furthermore, we discuss the possibility that there are prefrontal areas brought into play during the monitoring and manipulation of information in working memory in addition to those engaged during the maintenance of this information. Finally, we consider the relationship of prefrontal areas important for working memory, both to posterior visual processing areas and to prefrontal areas associated with long–term memory.

scholarly journals Spatial Working Memory in Humans Depends on Theta and High Gamma Synchronization in the Prefrontal Cortex

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (12) ◽  
pp. 1513-1521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Alekseichuk ◽  
Zsolt Turi ◽  
Gabriel Amador de Lara ◽  
Andrea Antal ◽  
Walter Paulus
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
High Gamma
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