Age-related slowing of task switching is associated with decreased integrity of frontoparietal white matter

Brian T. Gold; David K. Powell; Liang Xuan; Greg A. Jicha; Charles D. Smith

doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2008.04.005

Age-related slowing of task switching is associated with decreased integrity of frontoparietal white matter

Brian T. Gold, David K. Powell, Liang Xuan, Greg A. Jicha, Charles D. Smith

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

136 Scopus citations

Abstract

A body of research has demonstrated age-related slowing on tasks that emphasize cognitive control, such as task switching. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms that contribute to this age-related slowing. To address this issue, the present study used both fMRI and DTI in combination with a standard task switching paradigm. Results from the fMRI experiment demonstrated task switching cost (switching vs. nonswitching) activations in a network of frontoparietal and striatal regions in the young group. The older group recruited a similar network of regions, but showed decreased spatial extent of activation and recruited several regions not activated in the young group. White matter (WM) ROIs bordering the cortical network showing task switching activation were then selected to explore potential relationships between task switching reaction time (RT) cost and fractional anisotropy (FA) in the same groups of participants. Results demonstrated a negative correlation between switch cost RT and FA in left frontoparietal WM in both young and older groups. In addition, age-related FA decline in the same frontoparietal WM region was found to mediate age-related increases in RT switch costs. These findings identify decreased integrity of frontoparietal WM as one mechanism contributing to age-related increases in RT switch costs.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	512-522
Number of pages	11
Journal	Neurobiology of Aging
Volume	31
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2008.04.005
State	Published - Mar 2010

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was supported by National Institutes of Health grants DC007315 and P50 AG05144-21. The authors thank and Sara Jones and Jeff Covell for help with data collection. We also thank Drs. Anders Andersen and three anonymous reviewers for thoughtful comments.

Keywords

Aging
Cognitive control
Fractional anisotropy
Neuroimaging
Task switching
White matter

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Neuroscience
Aging
Clinical Neurology
Developmental Biology
Geriatrics and Gerontology

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10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2008.04.005

Cite this

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title = "Age-related slowing of task switching is associated with decreased integrity of frontoparietal white matter",

abstract = "A body of research has demonstrated age-related slowing on tasks that emphasize cognitive control, such as task switching. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms that contribute to this age-related slowing. To address this issue, the present study used both fMRI and DTI in combination with a standard task switching paradigm. Results from the fMRI experiment demonstrated task switching cost (switching vs. nonswitching) activations in a network of frontoparietal and striatal regions in the young group. The older group recruited a similar network of regions, but showed decreased spatial extent of activation and recruited several regions not activated in the young group. White matter (WM) ROIs bordering the cortical network showing task switching activation were then selected to explore potential relationships between task switching reaction time (RT) cost and fractional anisotropy (FA) in the same groups of participants. Results demonstrated a negative correlation between switch cost RT and FA in left frontoparietal WM in both young and older groups. In addition, age-related FA decline in the same frontoparietal WM region was found to mediate age-related increases in RT switch costs. These findings identify decreased integrity of frontoparietal WM as one mechanism contributing to age-related increases in RT switch costs.",

keywords = "Aging, Cognitive control, Fractional anisotropy, Neuroimaging, Task switching, White matter",

author = "Gold, {Brian T.} and Powell, {David K.} and Liang Xuan and Jicha, {Greg A.} and Smith, {Charles D.}",

note = "Funding Information: This research was supported by National Institutes of Health grants DC007315 and P50 AG05144-21. The authors thank and Sara Jones and Jeff Covell for help with data collection. We also thank Drs. Anders Andersen and three anonymous reviewers for thoughtful comments.",

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AU - Gold, Brian T.

AU - Powell, David K.

AU - Xuan, Liang

AU - Jicha, Greg A.

AU - Smith, Charles D.

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by National Institutes of Health grants DC007315 and P50 AG05144-21. The authors thank and Sara Jones and Jeff Covell for help with data collection. We also thank Drs. Anders Andersen and three anonymous reviewers for thoughtful comments.

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Age-related slowing of task switching is associated with decreased integrity of frontoparietal white matter

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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