Resting state versus Task Based Exploration of Age-Related Changes of the Neurofunctional Connectome.

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Resting state versus Task Based Exploration of Age-Related Changes of the Neurofunctional Connectome. Perrine Ferre1* 1 Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM), Canada According to the World Health Organization, the proportion of individuals over age 60 is expected to double by 2050. Cognitive impairments can be extremely frequent in particular in older age, and has been recurrently shown to be the most feared health conditions associated with aging. In this context, a better understanding of the mechanisms that can support cognitive health during aging is crucial. Most of the current knowledge about the aged-related changes in brain neurofunctional organization stems from studies using cognitive tasks for which performance has a tendency to decrease with aging (e.g.: working memory). Few of those studies have looked at language processing related to vocabulary and semantic knowledge, abilities that have been shown to be relatively preserved in aging. The way by which the aging brain can continue to be efficient such as it is the case for vocabulary and semantic knowledge is still poorly looked at. Over the last decade, an increasing interest has been devoted to describing age-related changes in the functional connectivity of the brain. However, in most cases, these studies have been conducted while participants were in a “resting state”, namely without engaging in any particular cognitive task. Important changes in the pattern of functional connectivity has been described in such resting state conditions. It remains to be determined if age-related differences in functional connectivity are also present within the neurofunctional organization in specific cognitive contexts, and in particular when participants are engaged in tasks requiring verbal and semantic processing of words. In the present study, a brain connectome analysis was performed on 300 adults ranging from 18 to 80 years old. They were tested systematically for whole brain connectivity to search for consistent differences as a function of age, performance, education or cognitive reserve factors during an fMRI session of resting-state and while performing three lexical-semantic tasks (antonyms, synonyms, picture naming). Then, similarities in age effect on brain connectivity across all tasks was examined for language-related seed regions. Results confirm that performances for the lexical-semantic tasks are preserved. Brain imaging also shows the existence of qualitative discrepancies between task-evoked and resting state connectivity patterns. Mean functional connectivity shows a general tendency to decrease with age, whatever the cognitive context. However, during lexical-semantic tasks, enhanced connectivity in semantic and visual-attentional regions is revealed. No interactions were to be found between connectivity patterns and performance, education or cognitive reserve as a function of age, thus not bringing imaging support to some of the determinants of presumed compensation of cognitive aging. The results of the present study suggest that investigation of functional connectivity in aging cannot solely rely on resting-state imaging data, especially when interpretation of cognitive processes is at stake. Our results also challenge the current models of aging in their ability to account for age differences in the semantic-language domain. Keywords: lexical-semantics, Aging, functional connectivity (FC), Resting-state fMRI, Task-based functional connectivity Conference: Academy of Aphasia 56th Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, 21 Oct - 23 Oct, 2018. Presentation Type: poster presentation Topic: not eligible for a student prize Citation: Ferre P (2019). Resting state versus Task Based Exploration of Age-Related Changes of the Neurofunctional Connectome. . Conference Abstract: Academy of Aphasia 56th Annual Meeting. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.228.00011 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 25 Apr 2018; Published Online: 22 Jan 2019. * Correspondence: Miss. Perrine Ferre, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal (CRIUGM), Montréal, Canada, perrine_ferre@hotmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Perrine Ferre Google Perrine Ferre Google Scholar Perrine Ferre PubMed Perrine Ferre Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. 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