TY - JOUR
T1 - Age-related changes in neural mechanisms of prospective memory
AU - Lamichhane, Bidhan
AU - McDaniel, Mark A.
AU - Waldum, Emily R.
AU - Braver, Todd S.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to Bruna Martins and Pam LaMontagne for assistance with participant testing and data collection, to Michael Cole and Michael Scullin for initial input on accommodating the PM paradigm to fMRI, and to Kevin Oksanen for help with data reconstruction. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute on Aging Grants RC1AG036258 and AG043461 and by the Washington University Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences Grant UL1 TR000448 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the NIH. The content of this article is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Psychonomic Society, Inc.
PY - 2018/10/1
Y1 - 2018/10/1
N2 - The capability to remember and execute intentions in the future – termed prospective memory (PM) – may be of special significance for older adults to enable successful completion of important activities of daily living. Despite the importance of this cognitive function, mixed findings have been obtained regarding age-related decline in PM, and, currently, there is limited understanding of potential contributing mechanisms. In the current study, older (N=41) and younger adults (N=47) underwent task-functional MRI during performance of PM conditions that encouraged either spontaneous retrieval (Focal) or sustained attentional monitoring (Non-focal) to detect PM targets. Older adults exhibited a reduction in PM-related sustained activity within the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC) and associated dorsal frontoparietal cognitive control network, due to an increase in non-specific sustained activation in (no-PM) control blocks (i.e., an age-related compensatory shift). Transient PM-trial specific activity was observed in both age groups within a ventral parietal memory network that included the precuneus. However, within a left posterior inferior parietal node of this network, transient PM-related activity was selectively reduced in older adults during the non-focal condition. These age differences in sustained and transient brain activity statistically mediated age-related declines in PM performance, and were potentially linked via age-related changes in functional connectivity between the aPFC and precuneus. Together, they support an account consistent with the Dual Mechanisms of Control framework, in which age-related PM declines are due to neural mechanisms that support proactive cognitive control processes, such as sustained attentional monitoring, while leaving reactive control mechanisms relatively spared.
AB - The capability to remember and execute intentions in the future – termed prospective memory (PM) – may be of special significance for older adults to enable successful completion of important activities of daily living. Despite the importance of this cognitive function, mixed findings have been obtained regarding age-related decline in PM, and, currently, there is limited understanding of potential contributing mechanisms. In the current study, older (N=41) and younger adults (N=47) underwent task-functional MRI during performance of PM conditions that encouraged either spontaneous retrieval (Focal) or sustained attentional monitoring (Non-focal) to detect PM targets. Older adults exhibited a reduction in PM-related sustained activity within the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC) and associated dorsal frontoparietal cognitive control network, due to an increase in non-specific sustained activation in (no-PM) control blocks (i.e., an age-related compensatory shift). Transient PM-trial specific activity was observed in both age groups within a ventral parietal memory network that included the precuneus. However, within a left posterior inferior parietal node of this network, transient PM-related activity was selectively reduced in older adults during the non-focal condition. These age differences in sustained and transient brain activity statistically mediated age-related declines in PM performance, and were potentially linked via age-related changes in functional connectivity between the aPFC and precuneus. Together, they support an account consistent with the Dual Mechanisms of Control framework, in which age-related PM declines are due to neural mechanisms that support proactive cognitive control processes, such as sustained attentional monitoring, while leaving reactive control mechanisms relatively spared.
KW - Frontoparietal network
KW - Parietal memory network
KW - Proactive control
KW - Prospective memory
KW - Reactive control
KW - Salience network
KW - Sustained brain activity
KW - Transient brain activity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85048761897&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3758/s13415-018-0617-1
DO - 10.3758/s13415-018-0617-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 29926283
AN - SCOPUS:85048761897
SN - 1530-7026
VL - 18
SP - 982
EP - 999
JO - Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience
JF - Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience
IS - 5
ER -