Abstract
Age-related decline in cognitive control and general slowing are prominent phenomena in aging research. These declines in cognitive functions have been shown to also involve age-related decline in brain structure. However, most evidence in support of these associations is based on cross-sectional data. Therefore, the aim of this study is to contrast cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses to re-examine if the relationship between age-related brain structure and cognitive function are similar between the two approaches. One hundred and two participants completed two sessions with an average interval of 2 years. All participants were assessed by questionnaires, a series of cognitive tasks, and they all underwent neuroimaging acquisition. The main results of this study show that the majority of the conclusions regarding age effect in cognitive control function and processing speed in the literature can be replicated based on the cross-sectional data. Conversely, when we followed up individuals over an average interval of 2 years, then we found much fewer significant relationships between age-related change in gray matter structure of the cognitive control network and age-related change in cognitive control function. Furthermore, there was no “initial age” effect in the relationships between age-related changes in brain structure and cognitive function. This finding suggests that the “aging” relationship between brain structure and cognitive function over a short period of time are independent of “initial age” difference at time point 1. The result of this study warrants the importance of longitudinal research for aging studies to elucidate actual aging processes on cognitive control function.
Highlights
Cognitive control is the ability to regulate one’s thoughts and actions on the basis of task goals
Age at time point 1 (TP1) was found to be positively correlated with processing speed, shifting (TMT-B), and inhibition (SSRT) and negatively correlated with working memory (Bonferroni corrected, p < 0.004)
The results suggest that age was associated with cognitive control and processing speed decline cross-sectionally
Summary
Cognitive control is the ability to regulate one’s thoughts and actions on the basis of task goals. Cognitive Control in Aging quickly and accurately to changing environmental circumstances, its development and change paradoxically exhibit a “last in first out” phenomenon, in which it matures latest but declines earliest as compared with other cognitive functions (Craik and Bialystok, 2006) It protracts development into early adulthood and a decline into older age which has been shown to be associated with structural and functional changes in the prefrontal cortex (West, 1996; Raz et al, 1997). Most developmental and aging studies in the literature have investigated cognitive control differences across the lifespan (e.g., from early young adulthood to old age) They are interested in the question of whether different aspects of cognitive function are stable across adulthood and decline in older age or whether agerelated declines in cognitive function begin soon after maturity in early adulthood. The above evidence relies heavily on cross-sectional data, fewer on longitudinal data
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