macpherson-agerelated-2014.pdf (1.53 MB)
Age-related changes to the neural correlates of working memory which emerge after midlife
journal contribution
posted on 2014-04-01, 00:00 authored by Helen MacphersonHelen Macpherson, D J White, K A Ellis, C Stough, D Camfield, R Silberstein, A PipingasPrevious research has indicated that the neural processes which underlie working memory change with age. Both age-related increases and decreases to cortical activity have been reported. This study investigated which stages of working memory are most vulnerable to age-related changes after midlife. To do this we examined age-differences in the 13 Hz steady state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) associated with a spatial working memory delayed response task. Participants were 130 healthy adults separated into a midlife (40-60 years) and an older group (61-82 years). Relative to the midlife group, older adults demonstrated greater bilateral frontal activity during encoding and this pattern of activity was related to better working memory performance. In contrast, evidence of age-related under activation was identified over left frontal regions during retrieval. Findings from this study suggest that after midlife, under-activation of frontal regions during retrieval contributes to age-related decline in working memory performance. © 2014 Macpherson, White, Ellis, Stough, Camfield, Silberstein and Pipingas.
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Journal
Frontiers in Aging NeuroscienceVolume
6Publisher
Frontiers Media SALocation
Lausanne, SwitzerlandPublisher DOI
eISSN
1663-4365Language
engPublication classification
C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2014, FrontiersUsage metrics
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