Neurobiological Substrates of Visual-Somatosensory Integration in Aging

衰老过程中视觉体感整合的神经生物学基础

基本信息

批准号：
10358968
负责人：
Jeannette R. Mahoney
金额：
$ 10.53万
依托单位：
ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2016
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2016-09-01 至 2022-04-30
项目状态：
已结题

项目摘要

ABSTRACT A rapidly growing field of cognitive neuroscience referred to as multisensory integration (MSI) investigates the complexities of processing simultaneous sensory information. Primarily, MSI has been investigated in pairings of the three “major” senses (i.e., visual, auditory, and somatosensory systems), which are typically referred to as: auditory-somatosensory (AS), auditory-visual (AV), and visual-somatosensory (VS) combinations. Successful integration of concurrent information across multiple sensory modalities is crucial for functioning in the real world, completion of activities of daily living, and mobility. To date, only few studies have investigated multisensory processing in older adults and have predominately focused on AV interactions. Fewer still have related MSI to real world activities. Results from a study conducted in our laboratory revealed that compared to younger adults, older adults demonstrated a significantly larger reaction time benefit when processing concurrent VS information; two sensory modalities that clearly play an important role in everyday gait and balance. Further, our most recent work indicates differential patterns of multisensory processing in aging where individuals with larger (i.e., worse) VS multisensory effects manifested worse static balance, reported more falls, and endorsed less engagement in physical activities compared to elders with smaller MSI effects. These results provide support for the notion that VS integration measured behaviorally might reflect age-related physiological declines in unisensory processing. The facilitative benefit of VS information processing in older adults has major public health implications since unisensory visual and somatosensory impairments have been linked to functional decline, increased risks of falls, slower gait velocity, and poorer quality of life. Additionally, the effect of MSI has been attributed to basic degenerative changes in neuronal architecture during the aging process; however, this speculative interpretation has yet to be empirically tested. Furthermore, the functional and structural neural correlates of VS integration in aging have not been established - determining the neurobiological substrates of VS integration in aging and the association of such enhancement with various motor outcomes in older adults would be paramount to one day help identify opportunities to introduce cognitive and physical remediation programs that incorporate VS enhancement strategies in an effort to maintain functional independence.

抽象的一个被称为多感官整合（MSI）的认知神经科学领域的快速增长。处理同时感官信息的复杂性。主要是对MSI进行了研究三种“主要”感觉的配对（即视觉，听觉和体感系统），通常是称为：听觉 - 体感（AS），听觉 - 视觉（AV）和Visual-Sempsemessory（VS）组合。成功整合跨多种感觉方式的并发信息对于在现实世界中运作，完成日常生活的活动以及流动性。迄今为止，只有很少的研究研究了老年人的多感官处理，并且主要是专注于AV相互作用。与现实世界活动相关的MSI仍然很少。研究结果在我们的实验室中进行的表明，与年轻人相比，老年人证明了处理并发信息与信息时，反应时间有明显的收益；两种感官方式这显然在每天步态和平衡中起着重要作用。此外，我们最近的工作表明衰老中多感官处理的差异模式，其中较大（即更糟）的个体与多感官效应表现出较差的静态平衡，报告更多的跌倒，并且认可参与的较少与MSI效应较小的长者相比，体育活动。这些结果为概念提供了支持在行为上衡量的与整合可能反映了与年龄有关的生理下降加工。老年人对信息处理的促进益处具有重大的公共卫生影响由于通用视觉和体感障碍已与功能下降有关，因此跌倒，步态速度较慢和生活质量较差的风险。另外，MSI的效果已归因于在衰老过程中神经元结构的基本退化变化；但是，这种投机性解释尚未经验测试。此外，功能和结构神经相关尚未建立衰老中与整合的整合 - 确定VS的神经生物学底物衰老和这种增强与老年人的各种运动结果的关联有一天对一天的至关重要，有助于确定引入认知和身体补救的机会纳入与增强策略的计划，以保持功能独立性。