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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Neurocognitive Aging and Behavior
Volume 16 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2024.1437587
Age-related cerebral changes during different n-back tasks: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study
Provisionally accepted
Shizhe Zhu
1
Qinglei Wang
1
Kan Chaojie
2
Ayan Geng
1*
Youxin Sui
3
Ren Zhuang
2*
Yi Zhu
1
Tong Wang
1*
Lan Zhu
1*
Chuan Guo
1*- 1 Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
- 2 Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Changzhou Dean Hospital, Changzhou, China
- 3 Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR China
The n-back task, a classic paradigm for assessing working memory, is currently widely applied to examine age-related cognitive decline. Not only do peripheral performance differences emerge when compared with young individuals emerge, but central performance, as measured using positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging, also shows varying degrees of disparity. However, research utilizing functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in this context remains limited. Therefore, we conducted signal collection using fNIRS data from 18 elderly and 19 young individuals performing different n-back tasks. Our results revealed significant differences in brain activation patterns between the groups. Notably, under the 3-back condition, the older group exhibited reduced activation in irrelevant brain regions adjacent to prefrontal cognitive areas compared with the younger group. Additionally, the older group's performance plateaued at the 2-back level, accompanied by a decline in prefrontal activation. This finding may provide a new target for screening cognitive decline in the future.
Keywords: fNIRS, Aging, n-back, cerebral activation, working memory
Received: 24 May 2024; Accepted: 02 Oct 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Zhu, Wang, Chaojie, Geng, Sui, Zhuang, Zhu, Wang, Zhu and Guo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Ayan Geng, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
Ren Zhuang, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Changzhou Dean Hospital, Changzhou, China
Tong Wang, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
Lan Zhu, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
Chuan Guo, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
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