Reversal of age-related neural timing delays with training
Reversal of age-related neural timing delays with training
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1213555110
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发表时间：
2013-03-12
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Kraus, Nina
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Anderson, Samira;White-Schwoch, Travis;Kraus, Nina
神经发育迟缓常见于老年人，影响到感觉、运动和认知领域。神经反应减慢的有害影响之一是时间分辨能力受损；因此，老年人处理语言特征的快速事件的能力下降，尤其是在嘈杂的环境中。虽然助听器提高了可听性，但它们不能弥补听觉时间处理的缺陷。听觉训练可能为解决这些缺陷提供了一种策略。为此，我们评估了基于听觉的认知训练对噪音下言语皮层下加工的时间精度的影响。经过训练后，老年人表现出更快的神经时序，在记忆力、处理速度和对噪音的语音感知方面都有所提高，而对照组则没有任何变化。训练还与脑干反应峰值的变异性降低有关，这表明对语音信号的反应的时间抖动减少。这些结果表明，以听觉为基础的认知训练可以部分恢复大脑中与年龄相关的时间处理缺陷；这种可塑性反过来又促进了更好的认知和感知技能。
Neural slowing is commonly noted in older adults, with consequences for sensory, motor, and cognitive domains. One of the deleterious effects of neural slowing is impairment of temporal resolution; older adults, therefore, have reduced ability to process the rapid events that characterize speech, especially in noisy environments. Although hearing aids provide increased audibility, they cannot compensate for deficits in auditory temporal processing. Auditory training may provide a strategy to address these deficits. To that end, we evaluated the effects of auditory-based cognitive training on the temporal precision of subcortical processing of speech in noise. After training, older adults exhibited faster neural timing and experienced gains in memory, speed of processing, and speech-in-noise perception, whereas a matched control group showed no changes. Training was also associated with decreased variability of brainstem response peaks, suggesting a decrease in temporal jitter in response to a speech signal. These results demonstrate that auditory-based cognitive training can partially restore age-related deficits in temporal processing in the brain; this plasticity in turn promotes better cognitive and perceptual skills.