scholarly journals Cognitive Aftereffects of Acute tDCS Coupled with Cognitive Training: An fMRI Study in Healthy Seniors

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
P. Šimko ◽  
M. Pupíková ◽  
M. Gajdoš ◽  
I. Rektorová
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Sham Stimulation ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal

Enhancing cognitive functions through noninvasive brain stimulation is of enormous public interest, particularly for the aging population in whom processes such as working memory are known to decline. In a randomized double-blind crossover study, we investigated the acute behavioral and neural aftereffects of bifrontal and frontoparietal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with visual working memory (VWM) training on 25 highly educated older adults. Resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analysis was performed prior to and after each stimulation session with a focus on the frontoparietal control network (FPCN). The bifrontal montage with anode over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex enhanced VWM accuracy as compared to the sham stimulation. With the rs-FC within the FPCN, we observed significant stimulation × time interaction using bifrontal tDCS. We found no cognitive aftereffects of the frontoparietal tDCS compared to sham stimulation. Our study shows that a single bifrontal tDCS combined with cognitive training may enhance VWM performance and rs-FC within the relevant brain network even in highly educated older adults.

scholarly journals Load Modulation of BOLD Response and Connectivity Predicts Working Memory Performance in Younger and Older Adults

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 2030-2045 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene E. Nagel ◽  
Claudia Preuschhof ◽  
Shu-Chen Li ◽  
Lars Nyberg ◽  
Lars Bäckman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal

Individual differences in working memory (WM) performance have rarely been related to individual differences in the functional responsivity of the WM brain network. By neglecting person-to-person variation, comparisons of network activity between younger and older adults using functional imaging techniques often confound differences in activity with age trends in WM performance. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the relations among WM performance, neural activity in the WM network, and adult age using a parametric letter n-back task in 30 younger adults (21–31 years) and 30 older adults (60–71 years). Individual differences in the WM network's responsivity to increasing task difficulty were related to WM performance, with a more responsive BOLD signal predicting greater WM proficiency. Furthermore, individuals with higher WM performance showed greater change in connectivity between left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and left premotor cortex across load. We conclude that a more responsive WM network contributes to higher WM performance, regardless of adult age. Our results support the notion that individual differences in WM performance are important to consider when studying the WM network, particularly in age-comparative studies.

scholarly journals Spontaneous Eye Blinks Predict Executive Functioning in Seniors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessika I. V. Buitenweg ◽  
Jaap M. J. Murre ◽  
K. Richard Ridderinkhof
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Functional Decline ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Blink Rate ◽  
Memory Updating ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Working Memory Updating

AbstractAs the world’s population is aging rapidly, cognitive training is an extensively used approach to attempt improvement of age-related cognitive functioning. With increasing numbers of older adults required to remain in the workforce, it is important to be able to reliably predict future functional decline, as well as the individual advantages of cognitive training. Given the correlation between age-related decline and striatal dopaminergic function, we investigated whether eye blink rate (EBR), a non-invasive, indirect indicator of dopaminergic activity, could predict executive functioning (response inhibition, switching and working memory updating) as well as trainability of executive functioning in older adults. EBR was collected before and after a cognitive flexibility training, cognitive training without flexibility, or a mock training. EBR predicted working memory updating performance on two measures of updating, as well as trainability of working memory updating, whereas performance and trainability in inhibition and switching tasks could not be predicted by EBR. Our findings tentatively indicate that EBR permits prediction of working memory performance in older adults. To fully interpret the relationship with executive functioning, we suggest future research should assess both EBR and dopamine receptor availability among seniors.

scholarly journals Effects of multi-domain cognitive training on working memory retrieval in older adults: behavioral and ERP evidence from a Chinese community study

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiangfei Hong ◽  
You Chen ◽  
Jijun Wang ◽  
Yuan Shen ◽  
Qingwei Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Training Program ◽  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Training Group ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Baseline Session

AbstractWorking memory (WM) is a fundamental cognitive function that typically declines with age. Previous studies have shown that targeted WM training has the potential to improve WM performance in older adults. In the present study, we investigated whether a multi-domain cognitive training program that was not designed to specifically target WM could improve the behavioral performance and affect the neural activity during WM retrieval in healthy older adults. We assigned healthy older participants (70–78 years old) from a local community into a training group who completed a 3-month multi-domain cognitive training and a control group who only attended health education lectures during the same period. Behavioral and electroencephalography (EEG) data were recorded from participants while performing an untrained delayed match or non-match to category task and a control task at a pre-training baseline session and a post-training follow-up session. Behaviorally, we found that participants in the training group showed a trend toward greater WM performance gains than participants in the control group. Event-related potential (ERP) results suggest that the task-related modulation of P3 during WM retrieval was significantly enhanced at the follow-up session compared with the baseline session, and importantly, this enhancement of P3 modulation was only significant in the training group. Furthermore, no training-related effects were observed for the P2 or N2 component during WM retrieval. These results suggest that the multi-domain cognitive training program that was not designed to specifically target WM is a promising approach to improve WM performance in older adults, and that training-related gains in performance are likely mediated by an enhanced modulation of P3 which might reflect the process of WM updating.

scholarly journals Direct-Current Stimulation Does Little to Improve the Outcome of Working Memory Training in Older Adults

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 907-920 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonna Nilsson ◽  
Alexander V. Lebedev ◽  
Anders Rydström ◽  
Martin Lövdén
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Direct Current ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Working Memory Training ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Memory Training ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Direct Current Stimulation

The promise of transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) as a modulator of cognition has appealed to researchers, media, and the general public. Researchers have suggested that tDCS may increase effects of cognitive training. In this study of 123 older adults, we examined the interactive effects of 20 sessions of anodal tDCS over the left prefrontal cortex (vs. sham tDCS) and simultaneous working memory training (vs. control training) on change in cognitive abilities. Stimulation did not modulate gains from pre- to posttest on latent factors of either trained or untrained tasks in a statistically significant manner. A supporting meta-analysis ( n = 266), including younger as well as older individuals, showed that, when combined with training, tDCS was not much more effective than sham tDCS at changing working memory performance ( g = 0.07, 95% confidence interval, or CI = [−0.21, 0.34]) and global cognition performance ( g = −0.01, 95% CI = [−0.29, 0.26]) assessed in the absence of stimulation. These results question the general usefulness of current tDCS protocols for enhancing the effects of cognitive training on cognitive ability.

scholarly journals Changes in Neural Activity Underlying Working Memory after Computerized Cognitive Training in Older Adults

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erich S. Tusch ◽  
Brittany R. Alperin ◽  
Eliza Ryan ◽  
Phillip J. Holcomb ◽  
Abdul H. Mohammed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Computerized Cognitive Training

scholarly journals Site-specific effects of online rTMS during a working memory task in healthy older adults

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lysianne Beynel ◽  
Simon W. Davis ◽  
Courtney A. Crowell ◽  
Moritz Dannhauer ◽  
Wesley Lim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Electric Field ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Difficulty Level ◽  
Delayed Response ◽  
List Type ◽  
Sham Stimulation ◽  
Field Modeling

AbstractThe process of manipulating information within working memory (WM) is central to many cognitive functions, but also declines rapidly in old age. Given the importance of WM manipulation for maintaining healthy cognition, improving this process could markedly enhance health-span in older adults. The current pre-registered study tested the potential of online repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to enhance WM manipulation in healthy elderly adults. Online 5Hz rTMS was applied over the left lateral parietal cortex of 15 subjects to test the hypothesis that active rTMS would significantly improve performance compared to sham stimulation, and that these effects would be most pronounced in conditions with the highest cognitive demand. rTMS was applied while participants performed a delayed-response alphabetization task with two individually-titrated levels of difficulty. Sham stimulation was applied using an electrical sham coil that produced similar clicking sounds and somatosensory sensation as active stimulation but induced negligible effects on the brain. A stimulation site in left lateral parietal cortex was identified from fMRI activation maps and was targeted using individualized electric field modeling, stereotactic neuronavigation, and real-time robotic positioning, allowing optimal coil placement during the stimulation. Contrary to the a priori hypothesis, active rTMS significantly decreased accuracy relative to sham, and only in the hardest difficulty level. These results, therefore, demonstrate engagement of cortical WM processing, but not the anticipated facilitation, and provide a prescription for future studies that may attempt to enhance memory through application of different stimulation parameters.HighlightsThis study is one of the first attempts to enhance WM manipulation with online rTMSOnline 5Hz rTMS and sham were applied over the left parietal cortex of older adultsIndividualized fMRI and electric field modeling were used to optimize targetingContrary to expectations, rTMS disrupted working memory manipulation abilitiesThis demonstrates that parietal cortex is involved in WM and modifiable with rTMS

scholarly journals Working Memory Training Does Not Enhance Older Adults’ Cognitive Skills: A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Sala ◽  
N Deniz Aksayli ◽  
Kemal Semir ◽  
Yasuyuki Gondo ◽  
Fernand Gobet
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Transfer Effects ◽  
Far Transfer ◽  
Near Transfer ◽  
Analytic Review ◽  
Meta Analyses

In the last two decades, considerable efforts have been devoted to finding a way to enhance cognitive function by cognitive training. To date, the attempt to boost broad cognitive functions in the general population has failed. However, it is still possible that some cognitive training regimens exert a positive influence on specific populations, such as older adults. In this meta-analytic review, we investigated the effects of working memory (WM) training on older adults’ cognitive skills. Three robust-variance-estimation meta-analyses (N = 2,140, m = 43, and k = 698) were run to analyze the effects of the intervention on (a) the trained tasks, (b) near-transfer measures, and (c) far-transfer measures. While large effects were found for the trained tasks (g ̅ = 0.877), only modest (g ̅ = 0.274) and near-zero (g ̅ = 0.121) effects were obtained in the near-transfer and far-transfer meta-analyses, respectively. Publication-bias analysis provided adjusted estimates that were slightly lower. Moreover, when active control groups were implemented, the far-transfer effects were null (g ̅ = -0.008). Finally, the effects were highly consistent across studies (i.e., low or null true heterogeneity), especially in the near- and far-transfer models. While confirming the difficulty in obtaining transfer effects with cognitive training, these results corroborate recent empirical evidence suggesting that WM is not isomorphic with other fundamental cognitive skills such as fluid intelligence.

scholarly journals Independent Contributions of Dorsolateral Prefrontal Structure and Function to Working Memory in Healthy Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole D Evangelista ◽  
Andrew O’Shea ◽  
Jessica N Kraft ◽  
Hanna K Hausman ◽  
Emanuel M Boutzoukas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Surface Area ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
Bold Signal ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Left Dlpfc ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Logistic Regressions ◽  
And Function

Abstract Age-related differences in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) structure and function have each been linked to working memory. However, few studies have integrated multimodal imaging to simultaneously investigate relationships among structure, function, and cognition. We aimed to clarify how specifically DLPFC structure and function contribute to working memory in healthy older adults. In total, 138 participants aged 65–88 underwent 3 T neuroimaging and were divided into higher and lower groups based on a median split of in-scanner n-back task performance. Three a priori spherical DLPFC regions of interest (ROIs) were used to quantify blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal and FreeSurfer-derived surface area, cortical thickness, and white matter volume. Binary logistic regressions adjusting for age, sex, education, and scanner type revealed that greater left and right DLPFC BOLD signal predicted the probability of higher performing group membership (P values<.05). Binary logistic regressions also adjusting for total intracranial volume revealed left DLPFC surface area that significantly predicted the probability of being in the higher performing group (P = 0.017). The left DLPFC BOLD signal and surface area were not significantly associated and did not significantly interact to predict group membership (P values>.05). Importantly, this suggests BOLD signal and surface area may independently contribute to working memory performance in healthy older adults.

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