Neural correlates of training-related memory improvement in adulthood and aging.
Cognitive studies show that both younger and older adults can increase their memory performance after training in using a visuospatial mnemonic, although age-related memory deficits tend to be magnified rather than reduced after training. Little is known about the changes in functional brain activity that accompany training-induced memory enhancement, and whether age-related activity changes are associated with the size of training-related gains. Here, we demonstrate that younger adults show increased activity during memory encoding in occipito-parietal and frontal brain regions after learning the mnemonic. Older adults did not show increased frontal activity, and only those elderly persons who benefited from the mnemonic showed increased occipito-parietal activity. These findings suggest that age-related differences in cognitive reserve capacity may reflect both a frontal processing deficiency and a posterior production deficiency.
Department of Psychology, Umeå University, S-901 87 Umeå, Sweden. lars.nyberg@psy.umu.se
Lars
L
Nyberg
Johan
J
Sandblom
Sari
S
Jones
Anna Stigsdotter
AS
Neely
Karl Magnus
KM
Petersson
Martin
M
Ingvar
Lars
L
Bäckman
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008569:Memory Disorders; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology*; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000473:pathology