TY - JOUR
T1 - Enriching activities during childhood are associated with variations in functional connectivity patterns later in life
AU - Morris, Timothy P.
AU - Chaddock-Heyman, Laura
AU - Ai, Meishan
AU - Anteraper, Sheeba Arnold
AU - Castañon, Alfonso Nieto
AU - Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan
AU - Hillman, Charles H.
AU - McAuley, Edward
AU - Kramer, Arthur F.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2021/8
Y1 - 2021/8
N2 - Enriching early life experiences (e.g., sport, art, music, volunteering, language learning) during a critical period of brain development may promote structural and functional brain changes that are still present decades later (>60 years). We assessed whether a greater variety of enriching early life activities (EELA) before age 13 years were associated with individual differences in cortical and subcortical (hippocampus and amygdala) structure and function later in life (older adults aged 60–80 years). Results indicated no association between EELA and amygdala and hippocampus volumes, but higher functional connectivity between the amygdala and the insula was associated with more variety of EELA. EELA was not associated with cortical thickness controlling for sex, but sex-specific associations with the right pars opercularis were found. EELA was further associated with variations in functional connectivity patterns of the orbitofrontal cortex, driven by connecitivty to regions within the visual, somatosensory and limbic networks. Early life enriching activities appear to contribute to potential mechanisms of cognitive reserve (functional processes) more so than brain reserve (structure) later in life.
AB - Enriching early life experiences (e.g., sport, art, music, volunteering, language learning) during a critical period of brain development may promote structural and functional brain changes that are still present decades later (>60 years). We assessed whether a greater variety of enriching early life activities (EELA) before age 13 years were associated with individual differences in cortical and subcortical (hippocampus and amygdala) structure and function later in life (older adults aged 60–80 years). Results indicated no association between EELA and amygdala and hippocampus volumes, but higher functional connectivity between the amygdala and the insula was associated with more variety of EELA. EELA was not associated with cortical thickness controlling for sex, but sex-specific associations with the right pars opercularis were found. EELA was further associated with variations in functional connectivity patterns of the orbitofrontal cortex, driven by connecitivty to regions within the visual, somatosensory and limbic networks. Early life enriching activities appear to contribute to potential mechanisms of cognitive reserve (functional processes) more so than brain reserve (structure) later in life.
KW - Aging
KW - Enrichment
KW - Functional connectivity
KW - Multivoxel pattern analysis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105442988&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85105442988&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.04.002
DO - 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.04.002
M3 - Article
C2 - 33984626
AN - SCOPUS:85105442988
SN - 0197-4580
VL - 104
SP - 92
EP - 101
JO - Neurobiology of Aging
JF - Neurobiology of Aging
ER -