title: An age-related deficit in prefrontal cortical function associated with refreshing information.
abstract: Older adults are slower than young adults to think of an item they just saw, that is, to engage or execute (or both) the simple reflective operation of refreshing just-activated information. In addition, they derive less long-term memory benefit from refreshing information. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we found that relative to young adults, older adults showed reduced refresh-related activity in an area of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (left middle frontal gyrus, Brodmann's Area 9), but not in other refresh-related areas. This provides strong evidence that a frontal component of the circuit that subserves this basic cognitive process is especially vulnerable to aging. Such a refresh deficit could contribute to poorer performance of older than young adults on a wide range of cognitive tasks.
authors.affiliation: Yale University, USA.
authors.forename: Marcia K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Karen J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Carol L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Raye
authors.forename: Erich J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Greene
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011932:Reading; D012016:Reference Values; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology