Drenth Nadieh, van Dijk Suzanne E, Foster-Dingley Jessica C, Bertens Anne Suzanne, Rius Ottenheim Nathaly, van der Mast Roos C, Rombouts Serge A R B, van Rooden Sanneke, van der Grond Jeroen
Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands.
Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands.
Brain Commun. 2024 Feb 15;6(1):fcae048. doi: 10.1093/braincomms/fcae048. eCollection 2024.
Although past research has established a relationship between functional connectivity and cognitive function, less is known about which cognitive domains are associated with which specific functional networks. This study investigated associations between functional connectivity and global cognitive function and performance in the domains of memory, executive function and psychomotor speed in 166 older adults aged 75-91 years (mean = 80.3 ± 3.8) with minor cognitive deficits (Mini-Mental State Examination scores between 21 and 27). Functional connectivity was assessed within 10 standard large-scale resting-state networks and on a finer spatial resolution between 300 nodes in a functional connectivity matrix. No domain-specific associations with mean functional connectivity within large-scale resting-state networks were found. Node-level analysis revealed that associations between functional connectivity and cognitive performance differed across cognitive functions in strength, location and direction. Specific subnetworks of functional connections were found for each cognitive domain in which higher connectivity between some nodes but lower connectivity between other nodes were related to better cognitive performance. Our findings add to a growing body of literature showing differential sensitivity of functional connections to specific cognitive functions and may be a valuable resource for hypothesis generation of future studies aiming to investigate specific cognitive dysfunction with resting-state functional connectivity in people with beginning cognitive deficits.
尽管过去的研究已经确立了功能连接与认知功能之间的关系，但对于哪些认知领域与哪些特定功能网络相关联，我们所知甚少。本研究调查了166名年龄在75 - 91岁（平均 = 80.3 ± 3.8）、存在轻度认知缺陷（简易精神状态检查表得分在21至27之间）的老年人的功能连接与整体认知功能以及记忆、执行功能和精神运动速度等领域的表现之间的关联。在10个标准的大规模静息态网络内以及功能连接矩阵中300个节点之间更精细的空间分辨率上评估功能连接。未发现与大规模静息态网络内平均功能连接存在特定领域的关联。节点水平分析表明，功能连接与认知表现之间的关联在不同认知功能的强度、位置和方向上存在差异。为每个认知领域发现了特定的功能连接子网，其中一些节点之间较高的连接性与其他节点之间较低的连接性与更好的认知表现相关。我们的研究结果进一步丰富了越来越多的文献，这些文献表明功能连接对特定认知功能具有不同的敏感性，并且可能是未来旨在通过静息态功能连接研究早期认知缺陷人群特定认知功能障碍的假设生成的宝贵资源。
