Publications

Authors:

Diwadkar, Vaibhav A; Bellani, Marcella; Ahmed, Rizwan; Dusi, Nicola; Rambaldelli, Gianluca; Perlini, Cinzia; Marinelli, Veronica; Ramaseshan, Karthik; Ruggeri, Mirella; Bambilla, Paolo

Title:

Chronological age and its impact on associative learning proficiency and brain structure in middle adulthood

Year:

2016

Type of item:

Articolo in Rivista

Tipologia ANVUR:

Articolo su rivista

Language:

Inglese

Format:

A Stampa

Referee:

Sì

Name of journal:

Behavioural Brain Research

ISSN of journal:

0166-4328

N° Volume:

297

Page numbers:

329-337

Keyword:

aging; associative learning; brain structure; hippocampus; life span changes; voxel based morphometry

Short description of contents:

INTRODUCTION: The rate of biological change in middle-adulthood is relatively under-studied. Here, we used behavioral testing in conjunction with structural magnetic resonance imaging to examine the effects of chronological age on associative learning proficiency and on brain regions that previous functional MRI studies have closely related to the domain of associative learning.METHODS: Participants (n=66) completed a previously established associative learning paradigm, and consented to be scanned using structural magnetic resonance imaging. Age-related effects were investigated both across sub-groups in the sample (younger vs. older) and across the entire sample (using regression approaches).RESULTS: Chronological age had substantial effects on learning proficiency (independent of IQ and Education Level), with older adults showing a decrement compared to younger adults. In addition, decreases in estimated gray matter volume were observed in multiple brain regions including the hippocampus and the dorsal prefrontal cortex, both of which are strongly implicated in associative learning.CONCLUSION: The results suggest that middle adulthood may be a more dynamic period of life-span change than previously believed. The conjunctive application of narrowly focused tasks, with conjointly acquired structural MRI data may allow us to enrich the search for, and the interpretation of, age-related changes in cross-sectional samples.

Web page:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2015.10.016

Product ID:

88851

Handle IRIS:

11562/929284

Last Modified:

November 15, 2022

Bibliographic citation:

Diwadkar, Vaibhav A; Bellani, Marcella; Ahmed, Rizwan; Dusi, Nicola; Rambaldelli, Gianluca; Perlini, Cinzia; Marinelli, Veronica; Ramaseshan, Karthik; Ruggeri, Mirella; Bambilla, Paolo, Chronological age and its impact on associative learning proficiency and brain structure in middle adulthood «Behavioural Brain Research» , vol. 297 , 2016 , pp. 329-337

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