Isolating the neural mechanisms of age-related changes in human working memory

Bart Rypma; Mark D'Esposito

doi:10.1038/74889

Isolating the neural mechanisms of age-related changes in human working memory

Bart Rypma, Mark D'Esposito

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

488 Scopus citations

Abstract

Working memory (WM), the process by which information is coded into memory, actively maintained and subsequently retrieved, declines with age. To test the hypothesis that age-related changes in prefrontal cortex (PFC) may mediate this WM decline, we used functional MRI to investigate age differences in PFC activity during separate WM task components (encoding, maintenance, retrieval). We found greater PFC activity in younger than older adults only in dorsolateral PFC during memory retrieval. Fast younger subjects showed less dorsolateral PFC activation during retrieval than slow younger subjects, whereas older adults showed the opposite pattern. Thus age- related changes in dorsolateral PFC and not ventrolateral PFC account for WM decline with normal aging.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	509-515
Number of pages	7
Journal	Nature neuroscience
Volume	3
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/74889
State	Published - May 2000

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Neuroscience

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title = "Isolating the neural mechanisms of age-related changes in human working memory",

abstract = "Working memory (WM), the process by which information is coded into memory, actively maintained and subsequently retrieved, declines with age. To test the hypothesis that age-related changes in prefrontal cortex (PFC) may mediate this WM decline, we used functional MRI to investigate age differences in PFC activity during separate WM task components (encoding, maintenance, retrieval). We found greater PFC activity in younger than older adults only in dorsolateral PFC during memory retrieval. Fast younger subjects showed less dorsolateral PFC activation during retrieval than slow younger subjects, whereas older adults showed the opposite pattern. Thus age- related changes in dorsolateral PFC and not ventrolateral PFC account for WM decline with normal aging.",

author = "Bart Rypma and Mark D'Esposito",

note = "Funding Information: This research was supported by American Federation for Aging Research and NIH grants NS01762, AG15793 and AG13483. We thank Jeffrey S. Berger, Ron Collis, David Dorfman, Eric Zarahn and Geoff Aguirre for their support on this project. We thank Marcia K. Johnson, Karen Mitchell and Carol Raye for the design of replication experiment 2.",

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doi = "10.1038/74889",

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AU - D'Esposito, Mark

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by American Federation for Aging Research and NIH grants NS01762, AG15793 and AG13483. We thank Jeffrey S. Berger, Ron Collis, David Dorfman, Eric Zarahn and Geoff Aguirre for their support on this project. We thank Marcia K. Johnson, Karen Mitchell and Carol Raye for the design of replication experiment 2.

PY - 2000/5

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N2 - Working memory (WM), the process by which information is coded into memory, actively maintained and subsequently retrieved, declines with age. To test the hypothesis that age-related changes in prefrontal cortex (PFC) may mediate this WM decline, we used functional MRI to investigate age differences in PFC activity during separate WM task components (encoding, maintenance, retrieval). We found greater PFC activity in younger than older adults only in dorsolateral PFC during memory retrieval. Fast younger subjects showed less dorsolateral PFC activation during retrieval than slow younger subjects, whereas older adults showed the opposite pattern. Thus age- related changes in dorsolateral PFC and not ventrolateral PFC account for WM decline with normal aging.

AB - Working memory (WM), the process by which information is coded into memory, actively maintained and subsequently retrieved, declines with age. To test the hypothesis that age-related changes in prefrontal cortex (PFC) may mediate this WM decline, we used functional MRI to investigate age differences in PFC activity during separate WM task components (encoding, maintenance, retrieval). We found greater PFC activity in younger than older adults only in dorsolateral PFC during memory retrieval. Fast younger subjects showed less dorsolateral PFC activation during retrieval than slow younger subjects, whereas older adults showed the opposite pattern. Thus age- related changes in dorsolateral PFC and not ventrolateral PFC account for WM decline with normal aging.

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Isolating the neural mechanisms of age-related changes in human working memory

Abstract

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