P300, Gray Matter Volume and Individual Characteristics Correlates in Healthy Elderly

Abstract

We investigated whether P300-ERP and cognitive test performance differ for age, sex, and education in two groups of healthy elderly, and verified whether any correlations exist between P300 amplitude and latency and gray matter volume using whole brain voxel-by-voxel-based mapping, controlling for age, education, sex and Total Intracranial Volume (TIV). We used 32 channel electroencephalograms (EEG) to record the P300 responses and 3T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to determine gray matter volume. We recruited 36 native-Dutch speaking healthy older subjects, equally divided in two sub-groups of 52–64 and 65–76 years old, administered a battery of cognitive tests and recorded their demographics, EEGs and task performance; additionally, 16 adults from the second sub-group underwent an MRI scan. We found significant differences between age groups in their cognitive tests performance, P300 amplitudes for the frontal and parietal electrodes for the most difficult task, and P300 latencies for frontal, central and parietal electrodes for all three tasks difficulty levels. Interesting, sex and education affected cognitive and P300 results. Higher education was related to higher accuracy, and P300 amplitudes and shorter latencies. Moreover, females exhibited higher P300 amplitudes and shorter latencies, and better cognitive tasks performance compared to males. Additionally, for the 16 adults underwent to MRI scan, we found positive correlations between P300 characteristics in frontal, central and parietal areas and gray matter volume, controlling for demographic variables and TIV, but also showing that age, sex, and education correlate with gray matter volume. These findings provide support that age, sex, and education affect an individual’s cognitive, neurophysiological and structural characteristics, and therefore motivate the need to further investigate these in relation to P300 responses and gray matter volume in healthy elderly.

Alteration of Behavioral Inhibitory Control in High-Altitude Immigrants

“…Therefore, decreases in BIC for immigrants from HA areas are likely to be the result of structural brain changes and/or neural metabolism changes following long-term exposure to HAs. Decreased theta and delta band powers are associated with declines in prefrontal lobe gray matter volume (Barrós-Loscertales et al, 2006;Shah-Basak et al, 2019;Steiger et al, 2019), paralleling that seen for aging populations (Bernat et al, 2007;Taki et al, 2011;Steffener et al, 2013;Guo et al, 2014;Park et al, 2015;Pergher et al, 2019) and residents from HA regions (Liotti et al, 2000). These findings suggest that structural changes in gray matter volume and neural activity within the prefrontal lobe could be a possible explanation for the observed declines in BIC for individuals following long-term exposure to HAs.…”

Differences in the Potential Accessibility of Home-Based Healthcare Services among Different Groups of Older Adults: A Case from Shaanxi Province, China

“…Ribeiro et al pointed out that the factors that might interfere in the older adults' perceived health included age, sex, chronic health conditions, family and social support, functionality, and lifestyle [25]. Pergher found the positive correlations between age, sex, and education with gray matter volume, which supported that age, sex, and education affected individual cognitive, neurophysiological and structural characteristics [26].…”

Cognition and Alertness in Medical Students: Effects of a Single Night of Partial Sleep Deprivation

“… 10 Pergher et al found higher P300 amplitudes and observed smaller P300 latencies for individuals that were more educated compared to less educated ones. 9 Though the cognitive reserve is considered to be higher in students with formal education, our study revealed that PSD affects executive function and RTs in medical students.…”

“…They were tested twice, once following a night of normal sleep (baseline) and again following a night of PSD (intervention). Considering unprepared serial RT as the primary variable for reference that determines psychomotor of an individual, and based on the results of a study conducted in India 9 where the mean RT during baseline was 200.59 ± 34.59 ms and after intervention was 155.59 ± 36.24 ms, an effect size as drawn from this with correlation of 0.5 (being before and after) as 1.27 using G*Power 3.1 software, and sample size was calculated as 11 at 5% level of significance with statistical power of 95%. An additional sample of 20% was taken into account during recruitment considering the chances of drop-out mid-way during the study, and thus fixed as 14.…”

“…Findings of Pergher et al showed higher P300 amplitude and smaller latencies for subjects with a higher educational level. 9 A higher cognitive reserve may compensate for neurocognitive deficits. 10 Much less is known about the effect of PSD on the cognitive status and behavioral functions of this group.…”