Evidence for reduced efficiency and successful compensation in older adults during task switching
Open accessAbstract
Older adults often show different functional activation patterns than younger adults in prefrontal cortex (PFC) when performing cognitive control tasks. These differences include age-related increases in PFC activation magnitude and reorganized PFC functional connectivity (fC) patterns. However, it remains unclear whether age-related alterations in brain activation patterns reflect a positive mechanism (e.g., compensatory response) or a sign of brain dysfunction (e.g., reduced efficiency). Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare PFC activation magnitudes and PFC connectivity patterns between younger and older adult groups during performance of a task switching paradigm. Results indicated age-related increases both in PFC activation magnitudes and in PFC fC with inferotemporal (IT) regions. However, these age-related fMRI increases were differentially associated with task performance. Whereas increased PFC activation magnitudes tended to be either unrelated to task RT or associated with poorer task performance, increased PFC-IT connectivity was associated with better task performance in older adults. Our results suggest that age-related reductions in efficiency and successful compensation can co-exist in older adults in the context of the same task.
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Older adults show reduced efficiency of lateral prefrontal control regions and compensate for age-related task-switching declines by relying on enhanced frontotemporal connectivity compared with younger adults.
“Older adults exhibit reduced efficiency of lateral prefrontal control regions, and compensate for age-related declines in task-switching performance by relying on enhanced frontotemporal connectivity compared with younger adults97.”
From Cognitive and behavioural flexibility: Neural mechanisms and clinical considerations (2021) · cites this paper as [97]
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- Park DC 2004 The cognitive neuroscience of aging International Journal of Psychology 39 5-6 373 373
- Park DC Reuter-Lorenz P 2009b The adaptive brain: aging and neurocognitive scaffolding Annu Rev Psychol 60 173 196 19035823 PMC3359129
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Cognitive and behavioural flexibility: Neural mechanisms and clinical considerations
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- Authors
- Hakun, J. G., Zhu, Z., Johnson, N. F., & Gold, B. T.
- Affiliations
- University of Kentucky (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gold, Brian T.
- Venue
- Cortex
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-03
- Volume
- 64
- Pages
- 352-362
- ISSN
- 0010-9452 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4346415
- OpenAlex
- W2021293834
- Cited by
- 51
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 2.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Cortex (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health (R01AG033036)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Keywords
- aging, older adults, task switching, prefrontal cortex, functional connectivity, inferotemporal cortex, cognitive control, compensatory mechanisms, reaction time (psychology), cognitive efficiency
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Brain Mapping, Cognition, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Task Performance and Analysis, Prefrontal Cortex
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