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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Neurocognitive Aging and Behavior
Volume 16 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2024.1483449

Aging of visual word perception is related to decreased segregation both within and beyond the word network in the brain

Provisionally accepted
Licheng Xue Licheng Xue 1Tianying Qing Tianying Qing 2,3Yating LV Yating LV 4,5*Jing Zhao Jing Zhao 6,7*
  • 1 Hangzhou Polytechnic, Hangzhou, China
  • 2 Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands, Netherlands
  • 3 Helmholtz Institute (Netherlands), Utrecht, Netherlands, Netherlands
  • 4 Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
  • 5 Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
  • 6 Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 7 Zhejiang Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory for Research in Early Development and Childcare, Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    We investigated the neural correlates of cognitive decline in visual word perception from an intrinsic brain network perspective. Nineteen healthy older adults and 22 young adults were recruited, and underwent two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning sessions (i.e., resting-state and localizer tasks) along with a visual word perceptual processing task. We examined age-related alterations in resting-state functional connectivity (FC) within the word network, as well as between the word network and other networks, and tested their associations with behavioral performance in word and symbol-form processing. We found that compared with young adults, old adults exhibited increased FC between the two word-selective regions located in the left and right ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOT).Additionally, the FC between these two word-selective regions and other non-word selective regions was increased in older adults compared with young adults.Moreover, the FC alterations were correlated with individuals' behavioral performance in visual word perceptual processing. These results suggest that cognitive decline in visual word perception is associated with decreased segregation both within and beyond the word network in the aging brain. Our findings support the neural dedifferentiation hypothesis for the cognitive decline in visual word processing, and advance our understanding of the interactive neural specialization theory.

    Keywords: Aging, visual word processing, functional connectivity, Resting-state fMRI, neural dedifferentiation hypothesis

    Received: 20 Aug 2024; Accepted: 14 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Xue, Qing, LV and Zhao. 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:
    Yating LV, Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, 311121, Zhejiang Province, China
    Jing Zhao, Jing Hengyi School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, 311121, Jiangsu Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.