Lee Tsz-Lok, Chan Agnes S
Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Research Centre for Neuropsychological Well-Being, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2023 Jul 20;15:1096361. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1096361. eCollection 2023.
The relative oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has been considered as an index for cognitive loading, with the more difficult the task, the higher the level. A previous study reported that young adults who received transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) showed a reduced HbO of a difficult task, suggesting that tPBM may enhance cognitive efficiency. The present study further investigated the effect of tPBM on cognitive efficiency in older adults.
Thirty participants received a single tPBM on the forehead for 350 s. Before and after tPBM, their HbO in the visual span task with various difficulties was measured with fNIRS.
After tPBM, participants exhibited significantly lower HbO in a harder (span 7) but not an easier level (span 2) of the task, but their behavioral performance remained unchanged. In addition, factors affecting the reduction of HbO were examined, and the results showed that individuals with better memory (as measured by a 30-min delayed recall test) showed more reduction of HbO.
The results suggest that tPBM may enhance cognitive efficiency, with individuals with better memory tend to benefit more.
使用功能性近红外光谱（fNIRS）测量的相对氧合血红蛋白（HbO）被视为认知负荷的一个指标，任务越困难，该指标水平越高。先前的一项研究报告称，接受经颅光生物调节（tPBM）的年轻人在完成困难任务时HbO降低，这表明tPBM可能会提高认知效率。本研究进一步探讨了tPBM对老年人认知效率的影响。
30名参与者在前额接受单次tPBM治疗350秒。在tPBM治疗前后，使用fNIRS测量他们在不同难度的视觉广度任务中的HbO。
tPBM治疗后，参与者在较难（广度7）而非较容易（广度2）的任务水平中表现出显著较低的HbO，但他们的行为表现保持不变。此外，研究了影响HbO降低的因素，结果表明，记忆力较好（通过30分钟延迟回忆测试衡量）的个体HbO降低更多。
结果表明，tPBM可能会提高认知效率，记忆力较好的个体往往受益更多。
