Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Ireland; Global Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Ireland.
Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College, The University of Dublin, Ireland; Global Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Neurobiol Aging. 2023 Dec;132:233-245. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2023.09.016. Epub 2023 Sep 28.
The underlying neural mechanisms underpinning the association between age-related hearing loss (ARHL) and dementia remain unclear. A limitation has been the lack of functional neuroimaging studies in ARHL cohorts to help clarify this relationship. In the present study, we investigated the neural correlates of feature binding in visual working memory with ARHL (controls = 14, mild HL = 21, and moderate or greater HL = 23). Participants completed a visual change detection task assessing feature binding while their neural activity was synchronously recorded via high-density electroencephalography. There was no difference in accuracy scores for ARHL groups compared to controls. There was increased electrophysiological activity in those with ARHL, particularly in components indexing the earlier stages of visual cognitive processing. This activity was more pronounced with more severe ARHL and was associated with maintained feature binding. Source space (sLORETA) analyses indicated greater activity in networks modulated by frontoparietal and temporal regions. Our results demonstrate there may be increased involvement of neurocognitive control networks to maintain lower-order neurocognitive processing disrupted by ARHL.
年龄相关性听力损失 (ARHL) 和痴呆之间关联的潜在神经机制尚不清楚。一个限制因素是缺乏针对 ARHL 队列的功能神经影像学研究，以帮助阐明这种关系。在本研究中，我们调查了 ARHL（对照组=14，轻度 HL=21，中度或更重度 HL=23）患者的视觉工作记忆中特征绑定的神经相关性。参与者完成了一项视觉变化检测任务，评估特征绑定，同时通过高密度脑电图同步记录他们的神经活动。与对照组相比，ARHL 组的准确性评分没有差异。ARHL 患者的电生理活动增加，特别是在索引视觉认知处理早期阶段的成分中。这种活动在更严重的 ARHL 中更为明显，并且与特征绑定的维持有关。源空间（sLORETA）分析表明，由额顶叶和颞叶区域调节的网络活动增加。我们的结果表明，可能需要更多地涉及神经认知控制网络来维持被 ARHL 破坏的较低阶神经认知处理。
