White matter hyperintensities are associated with visual search behavior independent of generalized slowing in aging

NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA

卷:52

Article

Lockhart, Samuel N.^1,2,3  Roach, Alexandra E.^1,2,4  Luck, Steven J.^3,4,5  Geng, Joy^3,4,5  Beckett, Laurel^2,6  Carmichael, Owen^1,2  DeCarli, Charles^1,2,3,4 

[1] Univ Calif Davis, Imaging Dementia & Aging Lab, Davis, CA 95618 USA

[2] Univ Calif Davis, Dept Neurol, Davis, CA 95618 USA

[3] Univ Calif Davis, Neurosci Grad Grp, Davis, CA 95618 USA

[4] Univ Calif Davis, Dept Psychol, Davis, CA 95618 USA

[5] Univ Calif Davis, Ctr Mind & Brain, Davis, CA 95618 USA

[6] Univ Calif Davis, Div Biostat, Davis, CA 95616 USA

关键词: Cognitive control;    Visual attention;    Aging;    Cerebrovascular disease;    Cognitive neuroscience;    Neuroimaging;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.10.011

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

A fundamental controversy is whether cognitive decline with advancing age can be entirely explained by decreased processing speed, or whether specific neural changes can elicit cognitive decline, independent of slowing. These hypotheses ate anchored by studies of healthy older individuals where age is presumed the sole influence. Unfortunately, advancing age is also associated with asymptomatic brain white matter injury. We hypothesized that differences in white matter injury extent, manifest by MRI white matter hyperintensities (WMH), mediate differences in visual attentional control in healthy aging, beyond processing speed differences. We tested young and cognitively healthy older adults on search tasks indexing speed and attentional control. Increasing age was associated with generally slowed performance. WMH were also associated with slowed search times independent of processing speed differences. Consistent with evidence attributing reduced network connectivity to WMH, these results conclusively demonstrate that clinically silent white matter injury contributes to slower search performance indicative of compromised cognitive control, independent of generalized slowing of processing speed. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

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