Le Thang M, Chao Herta, Levy Ifat, Li Chiang-Shan R
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.
Department of Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.
Front Psychol. 2020 Jun 10;11:1121. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01121. eCollection 2020.
Aging is associated with structural and functional brain changes which may impact the regulation of motivated behaviors, including both action and inhibition of action. As behavioral regulation is often exercised in response to reward, it remains unclear how aging may influence reward-directed action and inhibition of action differently. Here we addressed this issue with the functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 72 participants (aged 21-74) performing a reward go/no-go (GNG) task with approximately 2/3 go and 1/3 no-go trials. The go and no-go success trials were rewarded with a dollar or a nickel, and the incorrect responses were penalized. An additional block of the GNG task without reward/punishment served as the control to account for age-related slowing in processing speed. The results showed a prolonged response time (RT) in rewarded (vs. control) go trials with increasing age. Whole-brain multiple regressions of rewarded (vs. control) go trials against age and RT both revealed an age-related reduced activity of the anterior insula, middle frontal gyrus, and rostral anterior cingulate cortex. Furthermore, activity from these regions mediated the relationship between age and go performance. During rewarded (vs. control) no-go trials, age was associated with increased accuracy rate but decreased activation in the medial superior frontal and postcentral gyri. As these regions also exhibited age-related activity reduction during rewarded go, the finding suggests aging effects on common brain substrates that regulate both action and action inhibition. Taken together, age shows a broad negative modulation on neural activations but differential effects on performance during rewarded action and inhibition of action.
衰老与大脑结构和功能的变化相关，这些变化可能会影响动机行为的调节，包括行动和行动抑制。由于行为调节通常是对奖励做出的反应，目前尚不清楚衰老如何不同地影响指向奖励的行动和行动抑制。在这里，我们利用72名参与者（年龄在21-74岁之间）的功能磁共振成像数据来解决这个问题，这些参与者执行了一个奖励性的“去/不去”（GNG）任务，其中约2/3为“去”试验，1/3为“不去”试验。“去”和“不去”成功试验分别给予一美元或五美分的奖励，错误反应会受到惩罚。GNG任务的另一个无奖励/惩罚块用作对照，以解释与年龄相关的处理速度减慢。结果显示，随着年龄的增长，奖励（与对照相比）“去”试验中的反应时间（RT）延长。对奖励（与对照相比）“去”试验与年龄和RT进行全脑多元回归分析，均显示前脑岛、额中回和喙前扣带回皮质的活动与年龄相关减少。此外，这些区域的活动介导了年龄与“去”表现之间的关系。在奖励（与对照相比）“不去”试验中，年龄与准确率提高相关，但内侧额上回和中央后回的激活减少。由于这些区域在奖励性“去”试验中也表现出与年龄相关的活动减少，这一发现表明衰老对调节行动和行动抑制的共同脑基质有影响。综上所述，年龄对神经激活表现出广泛的负向调节，但对奖励性行动和行动抑制期间的表现有不同影响。
