Abstract
Neuroimaging studies have documented that aging can disrupt certain higher cognitive systems such as the default mode network (DMN), the salience network and the central executive network (CEN). The effect of cognitive training on higher cognitive systems remains unclear. This study used a 1-year longitudinal design to explore the cognitive training effect on three higher cognitive networks in healthy older adults. The community-living healthy older adults were divided into two groups: the multi-domain cognitive training group (24 sessions of cognitive training over a 3-months period) and the wait-list control group. All subjects underwent cognitive measurements and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning at baseline and at 1 year after the training ended. We examined training-related changes in functional connectivity (FC) within and between three networks. Compared with the baseline, we observed maintained or increased FC within all three networks after training. The scans after training also showed maintained anti-correlation of FC between the DMN and CEN compared to the baseline. These findings demonstrated that cognitive training maintained or improved the functional integration within networks and the coupling between the DMN and CEN in older adults. Our findings suggested that multi-domain cognitive training can mitigate the aging-related dysfunction of higher cognitive networks.
Highlights
As people age, they experience cognitive decline, which involves working memory, executive function and attention, among other functions, and this occurs with particular frequency in late life, resulting in an increasingly poor quality of life (Hedden and Gabrieli, 2004; Grady, 2012)
A study demonstrated the decreased functional connection (FC) between the default mode network (DMN) and central executive network (CEN) after working memory training in health adults (Takeuchi et al, 2013). These findings suggest that training can affect FC of certain brain networks, such as DMN, CEN
Eighteen subjects in the multi-domain training group and 14 in the control group finished both the cognitive measurements and the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning at 1 year after the intervention, and they were involved in the final analysis
Summary
They experience cognitive decline, which involves working memory, executive function and attention, among other functions, and this occurs with particular frequency in late life, resulting in an increasingly poor quality of life (Hedden and Gabrieli, 2004; Grady, 2012). The reduction in functional connection (FC) between the superior parietal cortex and inferior temporal lobe is observed after training in older adults, which is associated with training success (Strenziok et al, 2014). These findings suggest that the interventions bring about enhanced behavioral outcomes but improvement of the brain function in older adults (Kraft, 2012; Bamidis et al, 2014)
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