Hippocampal contributions to novel spatial learning are both age-related and age-invariant

Abstract

Older adults show declines in spatial memory, although the extent of these alterations is not uniform across the healthy older population. Here, we investigate the stability of neural representations for the same and different spatial environments in a sample of younger and older adults using high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the medial temporal lobe. Older adults showed, on average, less distinct neural patterns between spatial environments and more variable neural patterns within a single environment. We also found a positive association between spatial distance discrimination and the distinctiveness of neural patterns between environments. Our analyses suggested that one source for this association was the extent of informational connectivity to CA1 from other subfields, which was dependent on age, while another source was the fidelity of signals within CA1 itself, which was independent of age. Together, our findings suggest both age-dependent and independent neural contributions to spatial memory performance.

Hippocampal contributions to novel spatial learning are both age-related and age-invariant

“…All data are included in the article and/or SI Appendix and are available on the OSF ( https://osf.io/zuqhj/ ) ( 54 ).…”