| 1. |
- Bäckman, Lars, et al.
(författare)
-
Dopamine and cognitive aging : a strong relationship
- 2006
-
Ingår i: Progress in psychological science around the world. Volume 1 neural, cognitive and developmental issues. - : Psychology Press. - 9780203783122 - 9781841699615 - 9781138883314 ; , s. 455-469
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)
|
|
| 2. |
- Lind, Johanna, et al.
(författare)
-
Reduced functional brain activity response in cognitively intact apolipoprotein E ε4 carriers
- 2006
-
Ingår i: Brain. - : Oxford University Press. - 0006-8950 .- 1460-2156. ; 129:5, s. 1240-1248
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The apolipoprotein E epsilon4 (APOE epsilon4) is the main known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Genetic assessments in combination with other diagnostic tools, such as neuroimaging, have the potential to facilitate early diagnosis. In this large-scale functional MRI (fMRI) study, we have contrasted 30 APOE epsilon4 carriers (age range: 49-74 years; 19 females), of which 10 were homozygous for the epsilon4 allele, and 30 non-carriers with regard to brain activity during a semantic categorization task. Test groups were closely matched for sex, age and education. Critically, both groups were cognitively intact and thus symptom-free of Alzheimer's disease. APOE epsilon4 carriers showed reduced task-related responses in the left inferior parietal cortex, and bilaterally in the anterior cingulate region. A dose-related response was observed in the parietal area such that diminution was most pronounced in homozygous compared with heterozygous carriers. In addition, contrasts of processing novel versus familiar items revealed an abnormal response in the right hippocampus in the APOE epsilon4 group, mainly expressed as diminished sensitivity to the relative novelty of stimuli. Collectively, these findings indicate that genetic risk translates into reduced functional brain activity, in regions pertinent to Alzheimer's disease, well before alterations can be detected at the behavioural level.
|
|
| 3. |
- Lind, Johanna, et al.
(författare)
-
Reduced hippocampal volume in non-demented carriers fo the apolipoprotein E ε4 : Relation to chronological age and recognition memory
- 2006
-
Ingår i: Neuroscience Letters. - : Elsevier BV. - 0304-3940 .- 1872-7972. ; 396:1, s. 23-27
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Apolipoprotein E ε4 (APOE ε4) is the main known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Some previous studies have reported structural brain changes as well as cognitive deficits in non-demented APOE ε4 carriers, but the pattern of results is inconsistent and studies with larger sample sizes have been called for. Here we compared hippocampal volume and recognition–memory performance between AD-symptom-free carriers (N = 30) and non-carriers (N = 30) of the APOE ε4 (age range: 49–79 years). We observed reduced right hippocampal volume in APOE ε4 carriers, and found that the difference was most pronounced before the age of 65. Further, the APOE ε4 carriers made significantly more false alarms in the recognition–memory test, and the number of false alarms correlated significantly with right hippocampus volume. These results indicate that relatively young individuals at genetic risk for AD have smaller hippocampal volume and lower performance on hippocampal-dependent cognitive tasks. A question for the future is whether smaller hippocampal volume represents early-onset hippocampal volume reduction or an inherent trait.
|
|
| 4. |
- Dahlin, Erika, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
-
Training of the executive component of working memory : subcortial areas mediate transfer effects
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. - : IOS Press. - 0922-6028 .- 1878-3627. ; 27:5, s. 405-419
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: Several recent studies show that training can improve working memory (WM) performance. In this review, many issues related to WM training, such as neural basis, transfer effects, and age-related changes are addressed. Method: We focus on our own studies investigating training on tasks taxing the executive updating function and discuss our findings in relation to results from other studies investigating training of the executive component of WM. Results: The review confirms positive behavioral effects of training on working memory. The most common neural pattern following training is fronto-parietal activity decreases. Increases in sub-cortical areas are also frequently reported after training, and we suggest that such increases indicate changes in the underlying skill following training. Transfer effects are in general difficult to demonstrate. Some studies show that older adults increase their performance after WM training. However, transfer effects are small or nonexistent in old age. Conclusions: The main finding in this review is that sub-cortical areas seem to have a critical role in mediating transfer effects to untrained tasks after at least some forms of working memory training (such as updating).
|
|
| 5. |
- Dahlin, Erika, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
-
Transfer of learning after updating training mediated by the striatum
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 320:5882, s. 1510-1512
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Process-specific training can improve performance on untrained tasks, but the magnitude of gain is variable and often there is no transfer at all. We demonstrate transfer to a 3-back test of working memory after 5 weeks of training in updating. The transfer effect was based on a joint training-related activity increase for the criterion (letter memory) and transfer tasks in a striatal region that also was recruited pretraining. No transfer was observed to a task that did not engage updating and striatal regions, and age-related striatal changes imposed constraints on transfer. These findings indicate that transfer can occur if the criterion and transfer tasks engage specific overlapping processing components and brain regions.
|
|
| 6. |
- Fischer, Håkan, et al.
(författare)
-
Brain activation while forming memories of fearful and neutral faces in women and men
- 2007
-
Ingår i: Emotion. - : American Psychological Association (APA). - 1528-3542 .- 1931-1516. ; 7:4, s. 767-773
-
Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Event-related functional MRI (fMRI) was used to assess brain activity during encoding of fearful and neutral faces in 12 women and 12 men. In a subsequent memory analysis, the authors separated successful from unsuccessful encoding of both types of faces, based on whether they were remembered or forgotten in a later recognition memory test. Overall, women and men recruited overlapping neural circuitries. Both sexes activated right-sided medial-temporal regions during successful encoding of fearful faces. Successful encoding of neutral faces was associated with left-sided lateral prefrontal and right-sided superior frontal activation in both sexes. In women, relatively greater encoding related activity for neutral faces was seen in the superior parietal and parahippocampal cortices. By contrast, men activated the left and right superior/middle frontal cortex more than women during successful encoding of the same neutral faces. These findings suggest that women and men use similar neural networks to encode facial information, with only subtle sex differences observed for neutral faces.
|
|
| 7. |
- Habib, Reza, et al.
(författare)
-
Cognitive and non-cognitive factors contributing to the longitudinal identification of successful older adults in the Betula study.
- 2007
-
Ingår i: Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition.. - Lisse : Swets & Zeitlinger. ; 14:3, s. 257-273
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Studies of successful aging have typically defined elderly who fall in the upper end of a distribution of test scores as successful. A different definition of successful aging requires that older adults fall at or above the mean level of younger adults and maintain this level over time. Here we examined this definition of successful aging in a sample of 1463 individuals between 50 to 85 years of age. Based on principal coordinate analysis of cognitive and non-cognitive variables, we identified a group of 55 (8.3%) 70-85 years olds that were high functioning. This group of elderly showed elevated performance on a range of cognitive tasks. Non-cognitive factors that characterized this group included education and subjective health. The participants were re-tested 5 years later and the same type of analysis was repeated. Of the remaining individuals who initially were classified as high functioning, 18 (35%) remained high functioning and thus met the definition for successful aging. Years of education was a significant predictor of who remained successful over time.
|
|
| 8. |
- Lind, Johanna, et al.
(författare)
-
Parietal cortex activation predicts memory decline in apolipoprotein E-epsilon 4 carriers
- 2006
-
Ingår i: NeuroReport. - Oxford : Rapid Communications of Oxford. - 0959-4965 .- 1473-558X. ; 17:16, s. 1683-1686
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Apolipoprotein E-[varepsilon]4 is the main known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Functional abnormalities in the parietal cortex have been reported for Alzheimer's disease patients and also for those at risk. Hence, a critical question is whether measurements of parietal cortex integrity may predict negative outcome among at-risk persons. We studied nondementedapolipoprotein E-[varepsilon]4 carriers and found a significant relationship between parietal blood-oxygen-level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging response during a word categorization task and subsequent episodic memory performance. Thus, the results show that parietal cortex alterations predict memory decline in nondemented apolipoprotein E-[varepsilon]4 carriers, and hence likely progression to Alzheimer's disease.
|
|
| 9. |
- Naghavi, Hamid Reza, et al.
(författare)
-
Personality traits predict response to novel and familiar stimuli in the hippocampal region
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Psychiatry Research. - : Elsevier. - 0165-1781 .- 1872-7123 .- 0925-4927 .- 1872-7506. ; 173:2, s. 94-99
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Current evidence from genetic, neurochemical, and clinical research supports the notion that a combination of high novelty seeking and low harm avoidance traits (NS-ha) is reliably dissociable from the opposite personality profile (i.e., low novelty seeking and high harm avoidance, ns-HA). Little is known, however, about how the differences between these two types of personality are regulated by brain function. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and recruited two groups of individuals, one group with the NS-ha profile and the other group with the ns-HA profile, to examine whether there is a difference between the two groups in their brain response to novel versus familiar word stimuli. Results revealed a differential pattern of response in an area in the hippocampal region, with the NS-ha group showing a greater sensitivity to novel stimuli and the ns-HA group demonstrating a greater response to familiar stimuli. We conclude that the response pattern to novel and familiar stimuli in the hippocampal region has a role in mediating differences between the NS-ha and ns-HA temperamental profiles.
|
|
| 10. |
- Nyberg, Lars, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
-
Neural correlates of variable working memory load across adult age and skill : dissociative patterns within the fronto-parietal network
- 2009
-
Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. - : John Wiley & Sons Inc.. - 0036-5564 .- 1467-9450. ; 50:1, s. 41-46
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We examined neural changes related to variations in working memory load by using an n-back task with three levels and functional magnetic resonance imaging. Younger adults were divided into high- and low-performing groups (Young-High; Young-Low) and compared with older adults. Relative to Young-High, capacity-constraints in working memory were apparent between load 1-2 for the elderly and between load 2-3 for Young-Low. Capacity-constraints in neural activity followed this pattern by showing a monotonically increasing response in parietal cortex and thalamus for Young-High, whereas activity leveled off at 1-back for the elderly and at 2-back for Young-Low. The response in dorsal frontal cortex followed a similar pattern with the addition that the magnitude of activation differed within capacity limitations (Old > Young at 1-back; Young-Low > Young-High at 2-back). These findings indicate that an important determinant of WM capacity is the ability to keep the frontal cortex adequately engaged in relation to current task demands.
|
|
