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- Title
Working Memory Load-Dependent Brain Response Predicts Behavioral Training Gains in Older Adults.
- Authors
Heinzel, Stephan; Lorenz, Robert C.; Brockhaus, Wolf-Rüdiger; Wüstenberg, Torsten; Kathmann, Norbert; Heinz, Andreas; Rapp, Michael A.
- Abstract
In the domain of working memory (WM), a sigmoid-shaped relationship between WM load and brain activation patterns has been demonstrated in younger adults. It has been suggested that age-related alterations of this pattern are associated with changes in neural efficiency and capacity. At the same time, WM training studies have shown that some older adults are able to increase their WM performance through training. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging during an n-back WM task at different WM load levels was applied to compare blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses between younger and older participants and to predict gains inWMperformance after a subsequent 12-sessionWMtraining procedure in older adults. We show that increased neural efficiency and capacity, as reflected by more "youth-like" brain response patterns in regions of interest of the frontoparietal WM network, were associated with better behavioral training outcome beyond the effects of age, sex, education, gray matter volume, and baseline WM performance. Furthermore, at low difficulty levels, decreases in BOLD response were found afterWMtraining. Results indicate that both neural efficiency (i.e., decreased activation at comparable performance levels) and capacity (i.e., increasing activation with increasing WMload) of a WM-related network predict plasticity of theWMsystem, whereasWMtraining may specifically increase neural efficiency in older adults.
- Subjects
SHORT-term memory; BRAIN physiology; TRAINING; SIGMOID colon; NEUROPHYSIOLOGY; OXYGEN in the blood; COMPARATIVE studies; FUNCTIONAL magnetic resonance imaging
- Publication
Journal of Neuroscience, 2014, Vol 34, Issue 4, p1224
- ISSN
0270-6474
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2463-13.2014