Chapman Sandra B, Spence Jeffrey S, Aslan Sina, Keebler Molly W
Department of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Center for BrainHealth, The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, United States.
Advance MRI, LLC, Frisco, TX, United States.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2017 Oct 9;9:314. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2017.00314. eCollection 2017.
Non-invasive interventions, such as cognitive training (CT) and physical exercise, are gaining momentum as ways to augment both cognitive and brain function throughout life. One of the most fundamental yet little studied aspects of human cognition is innovative thinking, especially in older adults. In this study, we utilize a measure of innovative cognition that examines both the quantity and quality of abstracted interpretations. This randomized pilot trial in cognitively normal adults (56-75 years) compared the effect of cognitive reasoning training (SMART) on innovative cognition as measured by Multiple Interpretations Measure (MIM). We also examined brain changes in relation to MIM using two MRI-based measurement of arterial spin labeling (ASL) to measure cerebral blood flow (CBF) and functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI) to measure default mode and central executive network (CEN) synchrony at rest. Participants ( = 58) were randomized to the CT, physical exercise (physical training, PT) or control (CN) group where CT and PT groups received training for 3 h/week over 12 weeks. They were assessed at baseline-, mid- and post-training using innovative cognition and MRI measures. First, the CT group showed significant gains pre- to post-training on the innovation measure whereas the physical exercise and control groups failed to show significant gains. Next, the CT group showed increased CBF in medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) and bilateral posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), two nodes within the Default Mode Network (DMN) compared to physical exercise and control groups. Last, significant correlations were found between innovation performance and connectivity of two major networks: CEN (positive correlation) and DMN (negative correlation). These results support the view that both the CEN and DMN are important for enhancement of innovative cognition. We propose that neural mechanisms in healthy older adults can be modified through reasoning training to better subserve enhanced innovative cognition.
认知训练（CT）和体育锻炼等非侵入性干预措施，正逐渐成为增强人们一生认知和大脑功能的方法。创新思维是人类认知中最基本但研究较少的方面之一，尤其是在老年人中。在本研究中，我们采用了一种创新认知测量方法，该方法可同时考察抽象解释的数量和质量。这项针对认知正常成年人（56 - 75岁）的随机试点试验，比较了认知推理训练（SMART）对通过多重解释测量（MIM）衡量的创新认知的影响。我们还使用两种基于磁共振成像（MRI）的测量方法来研究与MIM相关的大脑变化，一种是动脉自旋标记（ASL）测量脑血流量（CBF），另一种是功能连接磁共振成像（fcMRI）测量静息状态下默认模式网络和中央执行网络（CEN）的同步性。参与者（n = 58）被随机分为CT组、体育锻炼（体能训练，PT）组或对照组（CN），其中CT组和PT组每周接受3小时的训练，持续12周。在训练前、中、后阶段，使用创新认知和MRI测量方法对他们进行评估。首先，CT组在训练前后的创新测量指标上有显著提高，而体育锻炼组和对照组则未显示出显著提高。其次，与体育锻炼组和对照组相比，CT组在默认模式网络（DMN）中的两个节点——内侧眶额皮质（mOFC）和双侧后扣带回皮质（PCC）的脑血流量增加。最后，在创新表现与两个主要网络的连接性之间发现了显著相关性：CEN（正相关）和DMN（负相关）。这些结果支持了这样一种观点，即CEN和DMN对增强创新认知都很重要。我们提出，健康老年人的神经机制可以通过推理训练进行调整，以更好地服务于增强的创新认知。
