Effects of Cognitive Training on Resting-State Functional Connectivity of Default Mode, Salience, and Central Executive Networks

Abstract

Neuroimaging studies have documented that aging can disrupt certain higher cognitive systems such as the default mode network (DMN), the salience network and the central executive network (CEN). The effect of cognitive training on higher cognitive systems remains unclear. This study used a 1-year longitudinal design to explore the cognitive training effect on three higher cognitive networks in healthy older adults. The community-living healthy older adults were divided into two groups: the multidomain cognitive training group (24 sessions of cognitive training over a 3-months period) and the wait-list control group. All subjects underwent cognitive measurements and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning at baseline and at 1 year after the training ended. We examined training-related changes in functional connectivity (FC) within and between three networks. Compared with the baseline, we observed maintained or increased FC within all three networks after training. The scans after training also showed maintained anti-correlation of FC between the DMN and CEN compared to the baseline. These findings demonstrated that cognitive training maintained or improved the functional integration within networks and the coupling between the DMN and CEN in older adults. Our findings suggested that multidomain cognitive training can mitigate the aging-related dysfunction of higher cognitive networks.

The Impact of Cognitive Training on Cerebral White Matter in Community-Dwelling Elderly: One-Year Prospective Longitudinal Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study

“…The third aim was to assess whether training-induced changes in white matter integrity would be associated with improvements in cognitive function. Our previous studies found a correlation between training-derived improvement in global cognition and increased functional connectivity between the CEN network nodes in the multi-domain CogTr group 24 , as well as between delayed memory and time-domain entropy in the hippocampus in the single-domain group. On the basis of these findings, we hypothesised that training-related alterations in DTI indices would be correlated with improvements in cognitive performances.…”

“…In addition, compared with the control group, improved time-domain entropy in the cuneus and in the frontal areas, was detected in the single- and multi-domain CogTr groups, respectively 22 . Retained lateralisation of the left fronto-parietal network 23 and enhanced resting-state functional connectivity within the default mode and central executive networks (CEN) 24 was also observed after multi-domain CogTr across one year of follow-up. Therefore, we hypothesised that if changes in DTI indices were detectable after CogTr, they were likely to be manifested as increased FA and/or decreased MD and/or decreased RD in the frontal and parietal regions in the multi-domain CogTr group and in the occipital regions in the single-domain CogTr group.…”

The fronto‐insular cortex causally mediates the default‐mode and central‐executive networks to contribute to individual cognitive performance in healthy elderly

“…In the framework of the triple network model, several recent studies have investigated the functional interactions between these networks via intervention techniques or computational methods. Cao et al (2016) observed increased and sustained anti-correlation of DMN with CEN and SN after 3 months of cognitive training in healthy elderly individuals (Cao et al, 2016). Cao et al (2016) observed increased and sustained anti-correlation of DMN with CEN and SN after 3 months of cognitive training in healthy elderly individuals (Cao et al, 2016).…”

The Functional Integration in the Sensory-Motor System Predicts Aging in Healthy Older Adults

“…Several previous structural and functional studies using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans have also shown developmental trajectories in brain maturation and aging (Dosenbach et al, 2010; Rodrigue and Kennedy, 2011; Cao et al, 2014, 2016; Khundrakpam et al, 2015). Khundrakpam et al (2015) found that the top predictors of brain maturity were found in highly localized sensorimotor (precentral and postcentral gyrus, insula) and association areas (including middle and superior frontal gyrus) in normally growing children and adolescents.…”