Name
Abstract | ||
|---|---|---|
As we age, our ability to select and to produce words changes, yet we know little about the underlying neural substrate of word-finding difficulties in old adults. This study was designed to elucidate changes in specific frontally mediated retrieval processes involved in word-finding difficulties associated with advanced age. We implemented two overt verbal (semantic and phonemic) fluency tasks during fMRI and compared brain activity patterns of old and young adults. Performance during the phonemic task was comparable for both age groups and mirrored by strongly left-lateralized (frontal) activity patterns. On the other hand, a significant drop of performance during the semantic task in the older group was accompanied by additional right (inferior and middle) frontal activity, which was negatively correlated with performance. Moreover, the younger group recruited different subportions of the left inferior frontal gyrus for both fluency tasks, whereas the older participants failed to show this distinction. Thus, functional integrity and efficient recruitment of left frontal language areas seems to be critical for successful word retrieval in old age. |
Year | DOI | Venue |
|---|---|---|
2009 | 10.1162/jocn.2009.21219 | J. Cognitive Neuroscience |
Keywords | Field | DocType |
advanced age,age group,left inferior frontal gyrus,old adult,neural signature,old age,left frontal language area,brain activity pattern,word-finding difficulty,fluency task,phonemic fluency,activity pattern,frontal activity,magnetic resonance imaging,oxygen,functional integration,brain mapping,young adults,psychometrics,verbal fluency,age groups,young adult,neuropsychology,task analysis,phonetics,aging,semantics,cognitive processes | Functional magnetic resonance imaging,Verbal fluency test,Neural substrate,Fluency,Cognitive psychology,Psychology,Brain activity and meditation,Cognition,Inferior frontal gyrus,Neuropsychology | Journal |
Volume | Issue | ISSN |
21 | 10 | 0898-929X |
Citations | PageRank | References |
12 | 0.79 | 7 |
Authors | ||
8 | ||
Name | Order | Citations | PageRank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marcus Meinzer | 1 | 38 | 5.88 |
| Tobias Flaisch | 2 | 22 | 2.86 |
| Lotte Wilser | 3 | 12 | 0.79 |
| Carsten Eulitz | 4 | 14 | 1.57 |
| Brigitte Rockstroh | 5 | 82 | 10.35 |
| Tim Conway | 6 | 24 | 2.02 |
| Leslie Gonzalez-Rothi | 7 | 12 | 0.79 |
| Bruce Crosson | 8 | 60 | 7.50 |