title: Central executive function in mild cognitive impairment: a PET activation study.
abstract: Using positron emission tomography (PET), we explored the neural correlates of an executive function, dual tasking, in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and in elderly controls. The experiment employed simple auditory and visual tasks that were presented both in isolation and simultaneously to create a task condition requiring enhanced attentional control. Behaviorally, both groups performed well, albeit the patients made more errors on the visual task. The PET analysis focused at prefrontal regions where group differences in task-related activation patterns were expected. During dual task performance, the patients showed attenuated activity in the left inferior frontal region when compared to the controls. This suggests abnormalities in the neural processes underlying attentional control in aMCI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Abo Akademi University, Turku, Finland. matti.laine@abo.fi
authors.forename: Matti
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Laine
authors.forename: Terhi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tuokkola
authors.forename: Jaana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hiltunen
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vorobyev
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bliss
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baddeley
authors.forename: Juha O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Rinne
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006613:Higher Nervous Activity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D014796:Visual Perception