title: Aging-Resilient Associations between the Arcuate Fasciculus and Vocabulary Knowledge: Microstructure or Morphology?
abstract: Vocabulary knowledge is one of the few cognitive functions that is relatively preserved in older adults, but the reasons for this relative preservation have not been well delineated. We tested the hypothesis that individual differences in vocabulary knowledge are influenced by arcuate fasciculus macrostructure (i.e., shape and volume) properties that remain stable during the aging process, rather than white matter microstructure that demonstrates age-related declines. Vocabulary was not associated with age compared to pronounced age-related declines in cognitive processing speed across 106 healthy adults (19.92-88.29 years) who participated in this neuroimaging experiment. Fractional anisotropy in the left arcuate fasciculus was significantly related to individual variability in vocabulary. This effect was present despite marked age-related differences in a T1-weighted/T2-weighted ratio (T1w/T2w) estimate of myelin that were observed throughout the left arcuate fasciculus and associated with age-related differences in cognitive processing speed. However, atypical patterns of arcuate fasciculus morphology or macrostructure were associated with decreased vocabulary knowledge. These results suggest that deterioration of tissue in the arcuate fasciculus occurs with normal aging, while having limited impact on tract organization that underlies individual differences in the acquisition and retrieval of lexical and semantic information.
  
  
  
  Vocabulary knowledge is resilient to widespread age-related declines in brain structure that limit other cognitive functions. We tested the hypothesis that arcuate fasciculus morphology, which supports the development of reading skills that bolster vocabulary, could explain this relative preservation. We disentangled (1) the effects of age-related declines in arcuate microstructure (mean diffusivity; myelin content estimate) that predicted cognitive processing speed but not vocabulary, from (2) relatively stable arcuate macrostructure (shape/volume) that explained significant variance in an age-independent association between fractional anisotropy and vocabulary. This latter result may reflect differences in fiber trajectory and organization that are resilient to aging. We propose that developmental sculpting of the arcuate fasciculus determines acquisition, storage, and access of lexical information across the adult lifespan.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina 29425-5500, teubnera@musc.edu eckert@musc.edu.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8718-9031
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Teubner-Rhodes
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina 29425-5500.
authors.forename: Kenneth I
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3621-2043
authors.initials: KI
authors.lastname: Vaden
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina 29425-5500.
authors.forename: Stephanie L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Cute
authors.affiliation: Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences and Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-7988, and.
authors.forename: Jason D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Yeatman
authors.affiliation: Center for Cognitive and Neurobiological Imaging, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-2130.
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Dougherty
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina 29425-5500, teubnera@musc.edu eckert@musc.edu.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Eckert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D016880:Anisotropy; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D014825:Vocabulary; D066127:White Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: aging; arcuate fasciculus; diffusion tensor imaging; vocabulary; white matter