School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Healthy Brain Ageing Program, Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
J Alzheimers Dis. 2021;81(3):1079-1091. doi: 10.3233/JAD-201284.
Older adults living with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) not only demonstrate impairments in Theory of Mind (ToM), relative to adults with non-amnestic MCI (naMCI), but are also at a higher risk of developing dementia.
Our primary objective was to ascertain whether default mode network (DMN) functional connectivity was differentially associated with ToM abilities between MCI subgroups.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated alterations in resting-state functional connectivity within the brain's DMN in a sample of 43 older adults with aMCI (n = 19) and naMCI (n = 24), previously reported to demonstrate poorer ToM abilities.
Compared to naMCI, the aMCI subgroup revealed a significant association between poorer ToM performance and reduced functional connectivity between the bilateral temporal pole (TempP) and the left lateral temporal cortex (LTC) (LTC_L-TempP_L: b = -0.06, t(33) = -3.53, p = 0.02; LTC_L-TempP_R: b = -0.07,t(33) = -3.20, p = 0.03); between the right TempP and the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dMPFC) (b = -0.04, t(33) = -3.02, p = 0.03) and between the left and right TempP (b = -0.05, t(33) = -3.26, p = 0.03). In the naMCI subgroup, the opposite relationship was present between the bilateral TempP and the left LTC (Combined correlation: r = -0.47, p = 0.02), however, not between the right TempP and the dMPFC (r = -0.14, p = 0.51) or the left and right TempP (r = -0.31, p = 0.14).
Our findings suggest that alterations in functional connectivity within the DMN involving temporal and frontal lobe regions are associated with ToM deficits in aMCI.
患有遗忘型轻度认知障碍（aMCI）的老年人不仅在心智理论（ToM）方面表现出相对于非遗忘型轻度认知障碍（naMCI）的障碍，而且发展为痴呆症的风险更高。
我们的主要目的是确定默认模式网络（DMN）功能连接是否与 MCI 亚组的 ToM 能力存在差异相关。
使用功能磁共振成像，我们在一组 43 名患有 aMCI（n=19）和 naMCI（n=24）的老年人样本中研究了大脑 DMN 中静息状态功能连接的变化，这些老年人先前被报道表现出较差的 ToM 能力。
与 naMCI 相比，aMCI 亚组显示出较差的 ToM 表现与双侧颞极（TempP）和左侧外侧颞叶皮层（LTC）之间的功能连接减少之间存在显著关联（LTC_L-TempP_L：b=-0.06，t(33)=-3.53，p=0.02；LTC_L-TempP_R：b=-0.07，t(33)=-3.20，p=0.03）；右侧 TempP 与背内侧前额叶皮层（dMPFC）之间（b=-0.04，t(33)=-3.02，p=0.03）和左侧和右侧 TempP 之间（b=-0.05，t(33)=-3.26，p=0.03）。在 naMCI 亚组中，双侧 TempP 与左侧 LTC 之间存在相反的关系（联合相关性：r=-0.47，p=0.02），但右侧 TempP 与 dMPFC（r=-0.14，p=0.51）或左侧和右侧 TempP 之间不存在关系（r=-0.31，p=0.14）。
我们的研究结果表明，DMN 内涉及颞叶和额叶区域的功能连接变化与 aMCI 的 ToM 缺陷有关。
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