STUDIES OF AGING AND COGNITION IN NONHUMAN PRIMATES

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. We have previously conducted studies of age-related changes in cognition and the brain. In this earlier work we examined the role of monoamine receptors in the dorso-lateral pre-frontal cortex on executive function, and the effect of sex on age-related decline of both spatial cognition and motor function. In the present project period, we have extended these studies to examine cognitive deficits early in aging, to determine the effect of aging and hormonal status on motor function, as measured by a bi-manual motor task, and to determine whether general cognitive function and motor performance are related. In a study to address the first of these questions, we found that monkeys display deficits on a task of executive function as early as middle age (12-19 years), a finding paralleled in humans, and one that suggests that interventions designed at preventing decline of executive function must begin before old age. An additional goal accomplished in the project was the implementation of a new motor task that required the use of two hands in a coordinated movement. Such a task is needed because it is cognitively more taxing and may be more sensitive to age-related changes. Indeed we found that performance of this task did decline with age, and that there were significant changes in strategy for performance of the task as animals learned the task. Finally, we found that motor deficits associated with aging were correlated with impairments with a general measure of cognitive decline.