Fronto-temporal connectivity and memory: patterns of breakdown in ageing and diseases of old age

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Loss of memory is one of the most devastating afflictions of later life yet we still know relatively little about the different causes of age-related memory decline. Recent studies in animals suggest that white matter connections (the wiring of the brain) between key structures involved in memory, are critically important, especially in rapid aging, Alzheimer‘s disease and vascular dementia. New developments in brain imaging - such as diffusion tensor MRI, which allows white matter fibres in the living brain to be traced, and functional neuroimaging, which reveals patterns of brain activity while performing cognitive tasks - provide the opportunity to explore the importance of these connections in memory, and how they may contribute to the different patterns of memory change seen in old age. This research project will apply these new techniques alongside novel tests of memory based on research in animals. One central challenge will be to test whether changes in connectivity hold the key to understanding the boundary between normal ageing and early Alzheimer‘s disease.