fMRI-guided white matter connectivity in fluid and crystallized cognitive abilities in healthy adults.

TitlefMRI-guided white matter connectivity in fluid and crystallized cognitive abilities in healthy adults.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2020
AuthorsGazes Y, Lee S, Sakhardande J, Mensing A, Razlighi Q, Ohkawa A, Pleshkevich M, Luo L, Habeck C
JournalNeuroimage
Volume215
Pagination116809
Date Published2020 07 15
ISSN1095-9572
KeywordsAdult, Aged, Brain, Cognition, Crystallization, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, Female, Healthy Volunteers, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Nerve Net, Photic Stimulation, Reaction Time, White Matter
Abstract

This study examined within-subject differences among three fluid abilities that decline with age: reasoning, episodic memory and processing speed, compared with vocabulary, a crystallized ability that is maintained with age. The data were obtained from the Reference Ability Neural Network (RANN) study from which 221 participants had complete behavioral data for all 12 cognitive tasks, three per ability, along with fMRI and diffusion weighted imaging data. We used fMRI task activation to guide white matter tractography, and generated mean percent signal change in the regions associated with the processing of each ability along with diffusion tensor imaging measures, fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD), for each cognitive ability. Qualitatively brain regions associated with vocabulary were more localized and lateralized to the left hemisphere whereas the fluid abilities were associated with brain activations that were more distributed across the brain and bilaterally situated. Using continuous age, we observed smaller correlations between MD and age for white matter tracts connecting brain regions associated with the vocabulary ability than that for the fluid abilities, suggesting that vocabulary white matter tracts were better maintained with age. Furthermore, after multiple comparisons correction and accounting for age, education, and sex, the mean percent signal change for episodic memory showed positive associations with behavioral performance. Overall, the vocabulary ability may be better maintained with age due to the more localized brain regions involved, which places smaller reliance on long distance white matter tracts for signal transduction. These results support the hypothesis that functional activation and white matter structures underlying the vocabulary ability contribute to the ability's greater resistance against aging.

DOI10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116809
Alternate JournalNeuroimage
PubMed ID32276060
PubMed Central IDPMC7292763
Grant ListR01 AG038465 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
R01 AG026158 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
K01 AG051348 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
K01 AG051777 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
RF1 AG038465 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
Related Institute: 
Brain Health Imaging Institute (BHII)

Weill Cornell Medicine
Department of Radiology
525 East 68th Street New York, NY 10065