Age effects on EEG correlates of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

Physiological Reports

Nuno S. Dias¹  Daniela Ferreira¹  Joana Reis¹  Luís R. Jacinto¹  Luís Fernandes¹  Francisco Pinho²  Joana Festa¹  Mariana Pereira¹  Nuno Afonso¹  Nadine C. Santos¹  João J. Cerqueira¹ 

[1] Life and Health Science Research Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal;Department of Industrial Electronics, School of Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

关键词: Aging;    cognition;    EEG rhythms;   

DOI  :  10.14814/phy2.12390

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

Body and brain undergo several changes with aging. One of the domains in which these changes are more remarkable relates with cognitive performance. In the present work, electroencephalogram (EEG) markers (power spectral density and spectral coherence) of age-related cognitive decline were sought whilst the subjects performed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Considering the expected age-related cognitive deficits, WCST was applied to young, mid-age and elderly participants, and the theta and alpha frequency bands were analyzed. From the results herein presented, higher theta and alpha power were found to be associated with a good performance in the WCST of younger subjects. Additionally, higher theta and alpha coherence were also associated with good performance and were shown to decline with age and a decrease in alpha peak frequency seems to be associated with aging. Additionally, inter-hemispheric long-range coherences and parietal theta power were identified as age-independent EEG correlates of cognitive performance. In summary, these data reveals age-dependent as well as age-independent EEG correlates of cognitive performance that contribute to the understanding of brain aging and related cognitive deficits.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American Physiological Society and The Physiological Society.

Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.