title: Patterns of frontoparietal activation as a marker for unsuccessful visuospatial processing in healthy aging.
abstract: Visuospatial abilities are sensitive to age-related decline, although the neural basis for this decline (and its everyday behavioral correlates) is as yet poorly understood. fMRI was employed to examine age-related differences in patterns of functional activation that underlie changes in visuospatial processing. All participants completed a brief neuropsychological battery and also a figure ground task (FGT) assessing visuospatial processing while fMRI was recorded. Participants included 16 healthy older adults (OA; aged 69-82 years) and 16 healthy younger adults (YA; aged 20-35 years). We examined age-related differences in behavioral performance on the FGT in relation to patterns of fMRI activation. OA demonstrated reduced performance on the FGT task and showed increased activation of supramarginal parietal cortex as well as increased activation of frontal and temporal regions compared to their younger counterparts. Performance on the FGT related to increased supramarginal gyrus activity and increased medial prefrontal activity in OAs, but not YAs. Our results are consistent with an anterior-posterior compensation model. Successful FGT performance requires the perception and integration of multiple stimuli and thus it is plausible that healthy aging may be accompanied by changes in visuospatial processing that mimic a subtle form of dorsal simultanagnosia. Overall, decreased visuospatial processing in OA relates to an altered frontoparietal neurobiological signature that may contribute to the general phenomenon of increasingly fragmented execution of behavior associated with normal aging.
authors.affiliation: Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Lauren L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Drag
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology Section, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical Center, 2101 Commonwealth Blvd, Suite C, Ann Arbor, MI, 49105, USA.|Psychology Department, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Sharee N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Light
authors.affiliation: University of Illinois, Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Scott A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Langenecker
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology Section, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical Center, 2101 Commonwealth Blvd, Suite C, Ann Arbor, MI, 49105, USA.
authors.forename: Kathleen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Hazlett
authors.affiliation: Baylor College of Medicine and the Michael E. Debakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Elisabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Wilde
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 49105, USA.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Welsh
authors.affiliation: Comprehensive Neuropsychological Services, P.C., Cheschire, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Brett A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology Section, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical Center, 2101 Commonwealth Blvd, Suite C, Ann Arbor, MI, 49105, USA. linas@med.umich.edu.|Ann Arbor VA Medical Center, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. linas@med.umich.edu.
authors.forename: Linas A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Bieliauskas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Healthy aging; Parietal lobe; Prefrontal cortex; Simultanagnosia; Temporal lobe; Visuospatial processing; fMRI