Inter-individual performance differences in younger and older adults differentially relate to amplitude modulations and phase stability of oscillations controlling working memory contents

Werkle‐Bergner, Markus; Freunberger, Roman; Sander, Myriam C.; Lindenberger, Ulman; Klimesch, Wolfgang

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.11.071

Cited by 29 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…In our study, alpha coherence distinguishes significantly the age groups (but not performance groups), which is in line with the fact that aging leads to decrements in control processes of working memory, such as the inhibition of irrelevant information and binding process [13]. As so, we hypothesize that although E-GP group presents an aging phenotype it still performs successfully in the WCST probably because they managed to keep a high coherence between theta rhythms of frontal and fronto-parietal locations, which is very important to the correct use of working memory.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Effects of age-related cognitive deficits on EEG phase coherence

Ferreira¹,

Reis²,

Portugal³

et al. 2013

2013 6th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering (NER)

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Abstract-Body and brain undergo several changes with aging. One of these changes is the loss of neuroplasticity, which leads to the decrease of cognitive abilities. Hence the necessity of stopping or reversing these changes is of utmost importance to contemporary society. In the present work, electroencephalogram (EEG) markers of cognitive decline are sought whilst the subjects perform the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Considering the expected age-related cognitive deficits, WCST was applied to young and elder participants. The results suggest that coherence on theta and alpha EEG rhythms decrease with aging and increase with performance. Additionally, theta phase coherence seems more sensitive to performance, while alpha synchronization appears as a potential ageing marker. I. INTRODUCTIONThe process of healthy aging often involves loss of synaptic contacts and neuronal apoptosis, which can lead to declines in the episodic and working memory functions. Neural redundancy and plasticity, alongside with mental and physical training, promotes maintenance of brain activity avoiding the appearance of neuronal impairments, such as Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment [1][2]. In several studies, the electroencephalogram (EEG) has been used to determine which neuronal areas, their cognitive function and rhythms, are altered with aging [1]. Working and episodic memory studies have been reporting an increase of theta activity during the encoding phase [3]. Alpha activity has been associated to attention and binding processes [3][4]. Among other measures, these studies often apply coherence analysis to detect inter-regional EEG activation changes, both for stimulus-locked and background activations [5].The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) is a common neurophysiologic task used to evaluate complex cognitive functions such as working memory and rule shifting. Although WCST has been used to detect frontal dysfunction, recent studies show that the WCST is sensitive but not specific of the frontal regions malfunctioning [6]. A good performance in the WCST involves other brain regions besides the frontal areas, such as parietal and temporal locations [6].In this study we analyzed the effects of age-related cognitive deficits on EEG phase coherence among frontal and parietal locations. The region pairs with EEG coherence *Research co-sponsored by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and COMPETE program.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Effects of age-related cognitive deficits on EEG phase coherence

Ferreira¹,

Reis²,

Portugal³

et al. 2013

2013 6th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering (NER)

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“…And, additionally, Sander and colleagues [117] have reported that older adults show higher inter-trial phase stability shortly after stimulus onset as compared to children and younger adults using a working memory task. Early phase stability has been related to working memory performance in younger adults and high-functioning older adults [118]. Taken together these studies suggest that phase synchronization increases over development in human subjects over a range of frequencies and task requirements.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Decreases in Energy and Increases in Phase Locking of Event-Related Oscillations to Auditory Stimuli Occur during Adolescence in Human and Rodent Brain

et al. 2014

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Synchrony of phase (phase locking) of event-related oscillations (EROs) within and between different brain areas has been suggested to reflect communication exchange between neural networks and as such may be a sensitive and translational measure of changes in brain remodeling that occur during adolescence. This study sought to investigate developmental changes in EROs using a similar auditory event-related potential (ERP) paradigm in both rats and humans. Energy and phase variability of EROs collected from 38 young adult men (aged 18-25 years), 33 periadolescent boys (aged 10-14 years), 15 male periadolescent rats [at postnatal day (PD) 36] and 19 male adult rats (at PD103) were investigated. Three channels of ERP data (frontal cortex, central cortex and parietal cortex) were collected from the humans using an ‘oddball plus noise' paradigm that was presented under passive (no behavioral response required) conditions in the periadolescents and under active conditions (where each subject was instructed to depress a counter each time he detected an infrequent target tone) in adults and adolescents. ERPs were recorded in rats using only the passive paradigm. In order to compare the tasks used in rats to those used in humans, we first studied whether three ERO measures [energy, phase locking index (PLI) within an electrode site and phase difference locking index (PDLI) between different electrode sites] differentiated the ‘active' from ‘passive' ERP tasks. Secondly, we explored our main question of whether the three ERO measures differentiated adults from periadolescents in a similar manner in both humans and rats. No significant changes were found in measures of ERO energy between the active and passive tasks in the periadolescent human participants. There was a smaller but significant increase in PLI but not PDLI as a function of active task requirements. Developmental differences were found in energy, PLI and PDLI values between the periadolescents and adults in both the rats and the human participants. Neuronal synchrony as indexed by PLI and PDLI was significantly higher to the infrequent (target) tone compared to the frequent (nontarget) tone in all brain sites in all of the regions of interest time-frequency intervals. Significantly higher ERO energy and significantly lower synchrony was seen in the periadolescent humans and rats compared to their adult counterparts. Taken together these findings are consistent with the hypothesis that adolescent remodeling of the brain includes decreases in energy and increases in synchrony over a wide frequency range both within and between neuronal networks and that these effects are conserved over evolution.

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“…Promising candidate mechanisms with some degree of empirical support are decrements in dopamine availability in striatal and cortical brain regions (21-23); anatomical changes in medial-temporal (46) and prefrontal (47) areas; structural and functional connectivity decrements due to white matter alteration (27,48,49); a compromised dynamic range of neural activation (50); and deficient synchronization of oscillatory activity within and across fast and slow frequencies (51). The lead-lag relations and reciprocal interdependencies among these and additional putative drivers of age-related declines in adult cognition are largely unknown.…”

Section: Manifestation Of Plasticitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Human cognitive aging: Corriger la fortune?

Lindenberger

2014

Science

323

245

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Human cognitive aging differs between and is malleable within individuals. In the absence of a strong genetic program, it is open to a host of hazards, such as vascular conditions, metabolic syndrome, and chronic stress, but also open to protective and enhancing factors, such as experience-dependent cognitive plasticity. Longitudinal studies suggest that leading an intellectually challenging, physically active, and socially engaged life may mitigate losses and consolidate gains. Interventions help to identify contexts and mechanisms of successful cognitive aging and give science and society a hint about what would be possible if conditions were different.

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Inter-individual performance differences in younger and older adults differentially relate to amplitude modulations and phase stability of oscillations controlling working memory contents

Cited by 29 publications

References 83 publications

Effects of age-related cognitive deficits on EEG phase coherence

Effects of age-related cognitive deficits on EEG phase coherence

Decreases in Energy and Increases in Phase Locking of Event-Related Oscillations to Auditory Stimuli Occur during Adolescence in Human and Rodent Brain

Human cognitive aging: Corriger la fortune?

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