Morphometry of the human cortex cerebri and corpus striatum during aging

Haug, H; Eggers, Reinhard

doi:10.1016/0197-4580(91)90013-a

Cited by 265 publications

(169 citation statements)

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“…Just as results from cognitive studies suggest a differential decline in frontal lobe functioning associated with aging, evidence from neuropathological and neuroimaging studies also support this contention. Atrophy is greater in the frontal lobes as compared with other cortical regions (Haug & Eggers, 1991), and a reduction in cerebral blood flow in the frontal lobes has also been reported in older individuals (Gur, Gur, Obrist, Skolnick, & Reivitch, 1987). In an evoked potential study, Chao and Knight (1997) demonstrated changes in the frontal lobes in older adults during a task that was theorized to require inhibitory processes for successful performance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inhibitory Changes After Age 60 and Their Relationship to Measures of Attention and Memory

Persad¹,

Abeles²,

Zacks³

et al. 2002

The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences an

106

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This study examined the relationship between age and inhibitory functioning within a sample of older adults ranging in age from 60 to 85 years old. On the basis of earlier research, and confirmed by factor analysis, measures typically referred to as frontal lobe tasks were used as measures of inhibitory functioning. Findings demonstrated that inhibitory processes continued to decline with advancing age within the older sample. In addition, the role of inhibition in age-related performance deficits on a verbal list learning measure and an attention measure was examined. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that inhibition accounted for a significant proportion of the age-related variance on the two cognitive measures, whereas measures of reading speed accounted for a smaller proportion of the variance. In addition, when inhibition was first covaried out, reading speed no longer accounted for a significant proportion of the age-related variance. It is argued that inhibition is an important contributor to age-related performance decrements in cognition.AN increasingly central notion in attention theory is that inhibitory processes act in concert with excitatory processes to control the contents of working memory. Inhibitory processes help prevent irrelevant stimuli from interfering with the efficient processing of target information in a number of ways (e.g., Hasher & Zacks, 1988;Tipper, 1985;Tipper, Weaver, & Houghton, 1994). Specifically, inhibition can prevent the allocation of attention to irrelevant or distracting information in the internal or external environment, thereby allowing for a focus on the relevant task or goal. Further, as task demands change, inhibition serves to suppress activation of stimuli that were previously important but now are no longer the target of processing (Hasher & Zacks, 1988;. Finally, more recently it has been proposed that inhibition serves to restrain prepo-tent responses from occurring immediately, allowing for an initial evaluation as to their appropriateness (Hasher, Zacks, & May, 1999). When inhibitory processes are not operating efficiently, irrelevant or distracting information can invade working memory, possibly resulting in lowered performance due to interference effects and response competition. These interfering effects can occur at both the encoding and retrieval stages.It has recently been postulated that deficits in inhibitory functioning may account for agerelated performance decrements exhibited in a variety of cognitive tasks (Hasher & Zacks, 1988; Hasher et al., 1999;. This view maintains that inhibitory mechanisms become inefficient with age, causing a disruption to working memory. Working memory has been theorized to be important for successful performance in many cognitive domains, including memory, language comprehension and speech production, and planning and problem solving, among others (Baddeley & Hitch, 1994). Given the importance of Address correspondence to Carol Persad, Neuropsychology Division, University of Michigan, C480 Med Inn, 1500...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inhibitory Changes After Age 60 and Their Relationship to Measures of Attention and Memory

Persad¹,

Abeles²,

Zacks³

et al. 2002

The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences an

106

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“…The use of the MMSE cutoff to exclude participants is a relatively crude approach but remains common practice in the absence of a diagnostic test for Alzheimer's disease or other dementias. Although education level does influence the sensitivity and specificity of the MMSE, education has been shown to account for only a small proportion of the variance in scores (Jones & Gallo, 2001). We conclude that driving performance does decline with normal aging and that a large range of errors become more prevalent with increasing age in late life.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In normal aging, without dementia, age-related atrophy of the frontal lobes (Haug & Eggers, 1991;Raz, Gunning-Dixon, Head, Dupuis, & Acker, 1998) may lead to subtle changes in inhibitory control, leading to observed declines in performance on tests of executive function. We have argued previously, in relation to falls, that aging of the frontal cortex leads to failures of inhibition of motor responses and visual attention, thus increasing the risk of injury in later life (Anstey, Wood, Kerr, Caldwell, & Lord, 2009).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Chronological age and age-related cognitive deficits are associated with an increase in multiple types of driving errors in late life.

2011

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Objective: Older driver research has mostly focused on identifying that small proportion of older drivers who are unsafe. Little is known about how normal cognitive changes in aging affect driving in the wider population of adults who drive regularly. We evaluated the association of cognitive function and age with driving errors. Method: A sample of 266 drivers aged 70 to 88 years were assessed on abilities that decline in normal aging (visual attention, processing speed, inhibition, reaction time, task switching) and the UFOV ® , which is a validated screening instrument for older drivers. Participants completed an on-road driving test. Generalized linear models were used to estimate the associations of cognitive factors with specific driving errors and number of errors in self-directed and instructor navigated conditions. Results: All error types increased with chronological age. Reaction time was not associated with driving errors in multivariate analyses. A cognitive factor measuring speeded selective attention and switching was uniquely associated with the most errors types. The UFOV ® predicted blind-spot errors and errors on dual carriageways. After adjusting for age, education, and gender, the cognitive factors explained 7% of variance in the total number of errors in the instructor-navigated condition and 4% of variance in the self-navigated condition. Conclusion: We conclude that among older drivers, errors increase with age and are associated with speeded selective attention, particularly when that requires attending to the stimuli in the periphery of the visual field, task switching, errors inhibiting responses, and visual discrimination. These abilities should be the target of cognitive training.

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“…Studies using brain imaging and neuroanatomical techniques have provided more direct support for this hypothesis. For example, studies of gross brain volume have shown that although there is a general reduction in brain volume appearing after age 60, the degree of reduction appears to be greatest, and appear earliest, in the frontal cortex (Haug & Eggers, 1991;Salat et al, 1999). A recent magnetic resonance imaging study focusing on cortical gray matter showed that gray matter in PFC was significantly more affected by aging than other cortical regions (Raz et al, 1997).…”

Section: Pfc and Da Disturbances In Healthy Agingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Context processing in older adults: Evidence for a theory relating cognitive control to neurobiology in healthy aging.

Braver

Deanna²,

Keys³

et al. 2001

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

426

440

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A theory of cognitive aging is presented in which healthy older adults are hypothesized to suffer from disturbances in the processing of context that impair cognitive control function across multiple domains, including attention, inhibition, and working memory. These cognitive disturbances are postulated to be directly related to age-related decline in the function of the dopamine (DA) system in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). A connectionist computational model is described that implements specific mechanisms for the role of DA and PFC in context processing. The behavioral predictions of the model were tested in a large sample of older (N = 81) and young (N = 175) adults performing variants of a simple cognitive control task that placed differential demands on context processing. Older adults exhibited both performance decrements and, counterintuitively, performance improvements that are in close agreement with model predictions.There are a number of cognitive and biological changes that appear to occur during healthy aging. At the cognitive level, these changes include declines in functions such as episodic and working memory, attention, and inhibition (e.g

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Morphometry of the human cortex cerebri and corpus striatum during aging

Cited by 265 publications

References 0 publications

Inhibitory Changes After Age 60 and Their Relationship to Measures of Attention and Memory

Inhibitory Changes After Age 60 and Their Relationship to Measures of Attention and Memory

Chronological age and age-related cognitive deficits are associated with an increase in multiple types of driving errors in late life.

Context processing in older adults: Evidence for a theory relating cognitive control to neurobiology in healthy aging.

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