title: An fMRI Study of Concreteness Effects during Spoken Word Recognition in Aging. Preservation or Attenuation?
abstract: It is unclear whether healthy aging influences concreteness effects (i.e., the processing advantage seen for concrete over abstract words) and its associated neural mechanisms. We conducted an fMRI study on young and older healthy adults performing auditory lexical decisions on concrete vs. abstract words. We found that spoken comprehension of concrete and abstract words appears relatively preserved for healthy older individuals, including the concreteness effect. This preserved performance was supported by altered activity in left hemisphere regions including the inferior and middle frontal gyri, angular gyrus, and fusiform gyrus. This pattern is consistent with age-related compensatory mechanisms supporting spoken word processing.
authors.affiliation: University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, University of QueenslandBrisbane, QLD, Australia; School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of QueenslandBrisbane, QLD, Australia; Centre for Advanced Imaging, University of QueenslandBrisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Tracy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Roxbury
authors.affiliation: Centre for Advanced Imaging, University of Queensland Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Katie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McMahon
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, Royal Brisbane and Women's HospitalBrisbane, QLD, Australia; Academic Discipline of Medical Imaging, University of QueenslandBrisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coulthard
authors.affiliation: University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research, University of QueenslandBrisbane, QLD, Australia; School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of QueenslandBrisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Copland
keywords: abstract; aging; auditory; concrete; concreteness; fMRI; spoken word