Leveraging mPFC engagement to induce improvements in older adults' memory

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The demands of the modern world require continuous learning throughout the lifespan. Even with increasing evidence that there are optimal brain states (e.g. patterns of synchronous neural activity) for learning and memory, little is known about how these optimal states may shift across the lifespan or what may be done to achieve an optimal state during task learning and performance. The proposed research tests the general hypothesis that training older adults to use neural circuitry that is relatively preserved in aging may enable them to continue use of that circuitry when asked to learn or to retrieve information. The potential impact of this research for the later-life learning is high. It could lead to new strategies to teach older adults how to maximize their chance of memory success, especially in scenarios when a learning task is imminent, such as when in an appointment with a physician. Using social media and in-person events, this project will provide outreach activities to inform older adults about scientific findings pertinent to their understanding of brain and cognitive aging. Lateral prefrontal cortex (IPFC) engagement corresponds with memory success. Older adults recruit IPFC differently than younger adults, and age seems to alter connections between IPFC and the medial temporal lobe (MTL) regions critical for successful memory. Older adults remain able to recruit medial prefrontal lobe regions (mPFC) into memory networks and show relative preservation of the control processes implemented by mPFC. Even though later-life learners can recruit mPFC regions in the service of memory, they often do not; instead, they rely on additional recruitment of lPFC to compensate. The overarching goal of this project is to test whether older adults will perform optimally on learning and memory tasks when they can recruit mPFC into memory networks, and whether they are more likely to do so when that recruitment is facilitated or primed by tasks that encourage mPFC engagement in moments that precede encoding (Aim 1) or retrieval (Aim 2). The selected tasks (e.g. listening to music, reflecting on the self, or retrieving memories) have separately been shown to enhance older adults' memory performance and to increase mPFC engagement. Participants will engage in these tasks prior to undertaking a memory task, with brain activity measured via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). It is hypothesized that older adults' behavioral memory enhancements are mediated by mPFC recruitment, and engaging in these tasks prior to learning or retrieval will increase memory performance. This project brings together researchers with complementary expertise in the cognitive neuroscience of aging and memory, socioemotional memory, use of fMRI and quantitative methods, and specific experience with the task manipulations to be used in this study.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.