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Regional Cortical Thickness Predicts Top Cognitive Performance in the Elderly

While aging is typically associated with cognitive decline, some individuals are able to diverge from the characteristic downward slope and maintain very high levels of cognitive performance. Prior studies have found that cortical thickness in the cingulate cortex, a region involved in information p...

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Autores principales: Dominguez, Elena Nicole, Stark, Shauna M., Ren, Yueqi, Corrada, Maria M., Kawas, Claudia H., Stark, Craig E. L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8601448/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34803657
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2021.751375
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author Dominguez, Elena Nicole
Stark, Shauna M.
Ren, Yueqi
Corrada, Maria M.
Kawas, Claudia H.
Stark, Craig E. L.
author_facet Dominguez, Elena Nicole
Stark, Shauna M.
Ren, Yueqi
Corrada, Maria M.
Kawas, Claudia H.
Stark, Craig E. L.
author_sort Dominguez, Elena Nicole
collection PubMed
description While aging is typically associated with cognitive decline, some individuals are able to diverge from the characteristic downward slope and maintain very high levels of cognitive performance. Prior studies have found that cortical thickness in the cingulate cortex, a region involved in information processing, memory, and attention, distinguish those with exceptional cognitive abilities when compared to their cognitively more typical elderly peers. Others major areas outside of the cingulate, such as the prefrontal cortex and insula, are also key in successful aging well into late age, suggesting that structural properties across a wide range of areas may better explain differences in cognitive abilities. Here, we aim to assess the role of regional cortical thickness, both in the cingulate and the whole brain, in modeling Top Cognitive Performance (TCP), measured by performance in the top 50th percentile of memory and executive function. Using data from National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center and The 90 + Study, we examined healthy subjects aged 70–100 years old. We found that, while thickness in cingulate regions can model TCP status with some degree of accuracy, a whole-brain, network-level approach out-performed the localist, cingulate models. These findings suggests a need for more network-style approaches and furthers our understanding of neurobiological factors contributing to preserved cognition.
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spelling pubmed-86014482021-11-19 Regional Cortical Thickness Predicts Top Cognitive Performance in the Elderly Dominguez, Elena Nicole Stark, Shauna M. Ren, Yueqi Corrada, Maria M. Kawas, Claudia H. Stark, Craig E. L. Front Aging Neurosci Aging Neuroscience While aging is typically associated with cognitive decline, some individuals are able to diverge from the characteristic downward slope and maintain very high levels of cognitive performance. Prior studies have found that cortical thickness in the cingulate cortex, a region involved in information processing, memory, and attention, distinguish those with exceptional cognitive abilities when compared to their cognitively more typical elderly peers. Others major areas outside of the cingulate, such as the prefrontal cortex and insula, are also key in successful aging well into late age, suggesting that structural properties across a wide range of areas may better explain differences in cognitive abilities. Here, we aim to assess the role of regional cortical thickness, both in the cingulate and the whole brain, in modeling Top Cognitive Performance (TCP), measured by performance in the top 50th percentile of memory and executive function. Using data from National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center and The 90 + Study, we examined healthy subjects aged 70–100 years old. We found that, while thickness in cingulate regions can model TCP status with some degree of accuracy, a whole-brain, network-level approach out-performed the localist, cingulate models. These findings suggests a need for more network-style approaches and furthers our understanding of neurobiological factors contributing to preserved cognition. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-11-04 /pmc/articles/PMC8601448/ /pubmed/34803657 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2021.751375 Text en Copyright © 2021 Dominguez, Stark, Ren, Corrada, Kawas and Stark. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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) and the copyright owner(s) 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.
spellingShingle Aging Neuroscience
Dominguez, Elena Nicole
Stark, Shauna M.
Ren, Yueqi
Corrada, Maria M.
Kawas, Claudia H.
Stark, Craig E. L.
Regional Cortical Thickness Predicts Top Cognitive Performance in the Elderly
title Regional Cortical Thickness Predicts Top Cognitive Performance in the Elderly
title_full Regional Cortical Thickness Predicts Top Cognitive Performance in the Elderly
title_fullStr Regional Cortical Thickness Predicts Top Cognitive Performance in the Elderly
title_full_unstemmed Regional Cortical Thickness Predicts Top Cognitive Performance in the Elderly
title_short Regional Cortical Thickness Predicts Top Cognitive Performance in the Elderly
title_sort regional cortical thickness predicts top cognitive performance in the elderly
topic Aging Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8601448/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34803657
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2021.751375
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