Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Cambridge University and Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2012;7(11):e49787. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049787. Epub 2012 Nov 28.
This study aimed to assess the potential association between age-related prefrontal brain changes and slot machine gambling, an activity that has become increasingly popular among older adults. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess healthy older and younger adults whilst playing a slot machine. Results revealed that the older group over-recruited several bilateral and contralateral brain structures relative to the younger group. Specifically, older adults exhibited increased neural activation in the superior prefrontal cortex and left orbitofrontal cortex, indicating greater reliance on these structures. These results suggest a compensatory mechanism, by which older adults recruit a greater number of neural networks from both hemispheres to complete the same gambling task as their younger peers. The broader implications of these findings are discussed in relation to theories of neurocognitive and degenerative change that occurs in late adulthood.
本研究旨在评估与年龄相关的前额叶大脑变化与老虎机赌博之间的潜在关联，这种活动在老年人中变得越来越流行。使用功能磁共振成像来评估健康的老年和年轻成年人在玩老虎机时的大脑活动。结果表明，与年轻组相比，老年组在几个双侧和对侧大脑结构中过度招募。具体而言，老年人在额上回和左侧眶额皮质中表现出更高的神经激活，表明对这些结构的更大依赖。这些结果表明存在一种补偿机制，老年人通过该机制从两个半球中招募更多的神经网络来完成与年轻同伴相同的赌博任务。讨论了这些发现与老年期发生的神经认知和退行性变化理论的更广泛意义。
