Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1G1, Canada
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.
eNeuro. 2024 Mar 27;11(3). doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0418-23.2023. Print 2024 Mar.
Aging comes with declines in episodic memory. Memory decline is accompanied by structural and functional alterations within key brain regions, including the hippocampus and lateral prefrontal cortex, as well as their affiliated default and frontoparietal control networks. Most studies have examined how structural or functional differences relate to memory independently. Here we implemented a multimodal, multivariate approach to investigate how interactions between individual differences in structural integrity and functional connectivity relate to episodic memory performance in healthy aging. In a sample of younger ( = 111; mean age, 22.11 years) and older ( = 78; mean age, 67.29 years) adults, we analyzed structural MRI and multiecho resting-state fMRI data. Participants completed measures of list recall (free recall of words from a list), associative memory (cued recall of paired words), and source memory (cued recall of the trial type, or the sensory modality in which a word was presented). The findings revealed that greater structural integrity of the posterior hippocampus and middle frontal gyrus were linked with a pattern of increased within-network connectivity, which together were related to better associative and source memory in older adulthood. Critically, older adults displayed better memory performance in the context of decreased hippocampal volumes when structural differences were accompanied by functional reorganization. This functional reorganization was characterized by a pruning of connections between the hippocampus and the limbic and frontoparietal control networks. Our work provides insight into the neural mechanisms that underlie age-related compensation, revealing that the functional architecture associated with better memory performance in healthy aging is tied to the structural integrity of the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.
衰老伴随着情景记忆的衰退。记忆衰退伴随着关键大脑区域的结构和功能改变,包括海马体和外侧前额叶皮层,以及它们相关的默认和额顶控制网络。大多数研究都独立地研究了结构或功能差异与记忆的关系。在这里,我们采用了一种多模态、多变量的方法来研究个体结构完整性和功能连接的差异如何相互作用,与健康衰老中的情景记忆表现相关。在一个由年轻组(=111;平均年龄 22.11 岁)和老年组(=78;平均年龄 67.29 岁)组成的样本中,我们分析了结构磁共振成像和多回波静息状态功能磁共振成像数据。参与者完成了列表回忆(从列表中自由回忆单词)、联想记忆(配对单词的提示回忆)和来源记忆(提示回忆试验类型或单词呈现的感觉模式)的测试。研究结果表明,后海马体和中额回的结构完整性越大,与网络内连接的增加模式相关,而这种连接模式与老年成年人更好的联想记忆和来源记忆有关。重要的是,当结构差异伴随着功能重组时,老年成年人在海马体体积减少的情况下表现出更好的记忆表现。这种功能重组的特点是海马体与边缘和额顶控制网络之间的连接被修剪。我们的工作提供了对与年龄相关补偿相关的神经机制的深入了解,揭示了与健康衰老中更好的记忆表现相关的功能架构与海马体和前额叶皮层的结构完整性有关。