Open AccessIndependent Contributions of Dorsolateral Prefrontal Structure and Function to Working Memory in Healthy Older Adults
Author(s) -
Nicole D. Evangelista,
Andrew O’Shea,
Jessica N. Kraft,
Hanna K. Hausman,
Emanuel M. Boutzoukas,
Nicole R. Nissim,
Alejandro Albizu,
Cheshire Hardcastle,
Emily J. Van Etten,
Pradyumna K. Bharadwaj,
Samantha G. Smith,
Hyun Song,
Georg A. Hishaw,
Steven T. DeKosky,
Samuel S. Wu,
Eric C. Porges,
Gene E. Alexander,
Michael Marsiske,
Ronald A. Cohen,
Adam J. Woods
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
cerebral cortex
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.694
H-Index - 250
eISSN - 1460-2199
pISSN - 1047-3211
DOI - 10.1093/cercor/bhaa322
Subject(s) - dorsolateral prefrontal cortex , working memory , logistic regression , prefrontal cortex , psychology , neuroimaging , cognition , white matter , audiology , neuroscience , medicine , magnetic resonance imaging , radiology
Age-related differences in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) structure and function have each been linked to working memory. However, few studies have integrated multimodal imaging to simultaneously investigate relationships among structure, function, and cognition. We aimed to clarify how specifically DLPFC structure and function contribute to working memory in healthy older adults. In total, 138 participants aged 65-88 underwent 3 T neuroimaging and were divided into higher and lower groups based on a median split of in-scanner n-back task performance. Three a priori spherical DLPFC regions of interest (ROIs) were used to quantify blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal and FreeSurfer-derived surface area, cortical thickness, and white matter volume. Binary logistic regressions adjusting for age, sex, education, and scanner type revealed that greater left and right DLPFC BOLD signal predicted the probability of higher performing group membership (P values<.05). Binary logistic regressions also adjusting for total intracranial volume revealed left DLPFC surface area that significantly predicted the probability of being in the higher performing group (P = 0.017). The left DLPFC BOLD signal and surface area were not significantly associated and did not significantly interact to predict group membership (P values>.05). Importantly, this suggests BOLD signal and surface area may independently contribute to working memory performance in healthy older adults.