Fusiform Gyrus Phospho‐Tau is Associated with Failure of Proper Name Retrieval in Aging

Abstract

Difficulty retrieving proper names is common in older adults, coinciding with the accumulation of aggregated proteins in mid-life. We investigated the ability of healthy older adults to retrieve the names of famous faces in relation to positron emission tomography measurements of amyloid-β plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles. More tau in the left fusiform and parahippocampal gyrus was related to reduced proper name retrieval performance and this effect was potentiated by amyloid-β. These findings provide an explanation for a common complaint of older adults and link proper name retrieval to neural systems involved in face perception, memory, and naming.

The recency ratio assessed by story recall is associated with cerebrospinal fluid levels of neurodegeneration biomarkers

“…Both p-and t-tau were found to be associated with Rr levels, suggesting that it is sensitive to neurofibrillary tangle (tau) pathology and, in turn, neurodegeneration in the medialtemporal lobe (Maass et al, 2019;Tennant et al, 2021). These findings are consistent with a recent report using list-learning, where Rr was also found to correlate positively with both pand t-tau in individuals with MCI and unimpaired cognition (Bruno et al, 2022).…”

Cross-sectional associations of CSF tau levels with Rey’s AVLT: A recency ratio study.

“…High Rr scores are thought to depend on a reduction in long-term memory, due to a loss of consolidation ability, while reliance on phonological/echoic short-term memory remains relatively intact (Bruno et al, 2018; Turchetta et al, 2020). Consolidation ability is typically associated with function of the medial temporal lobe (Wixted, 2004; Wixted & Cai, 2013), an area that is implicated early in neurodegeneration and, particularly, in tauopathy (Maass et al, 2019; Tennant et al, 2021). Therefore, it is possible that Rr may be more sensitive than total and delayed AVLT recall scores for detecting development of tangle pathology and neurodegeneration in the medial temporal lobe.…”