Leveraging mPFC engagement to induce improvements in older adults' memory

现代世界的需求要求终身不断地学习。即使有越来越多的证据表明，学习和记忆存在最佳的大脑状态(例如，同步神经活动的模式)，但对于这些最佳状态如何在整个生命周期中转移，或者在任务学习和执行期间可以采取什么措施来达到最佳状态，我们知之甚少。这项拟议的研究测试了一个普遍的假设，即训练老年人使用在衰老过程中相对保存下来的神经回路，可能会使他们在被要求学习或检索信息时继续使用该回路。这项研究对以后的学习有很高的潜在影响。这可能会导致新的策略来教老年人如何最大限度地增加他们记忆成功的机会，特别是在学习任务迫在眉睫的情况下，比如在预约医生的时候。利用社交媒体和面对面活动，该项目将提供外联活动，让老年人了解与他们对大脑和认知老化的理解有关的科学发现。外侧前额叶皮质(IPFC)参与与记忆成功相关。老年人招募IPFC的方式与年轻人不同，年龄似乎改变了IPFC和内侧颞叶(MTL)区域之间的联系，这些区域对成功记忆至关重要。老年人仍然能够将内侧前额叶区域(MPFC)招募到记忆网络中，并表现出对mPFC实施的控制过程的相对保存。尽管后来的学习者可以招募mPFC区域来服务于记忆，但他们通常不会这样做；相反，他们依赖于额外招募LPFC来弥补。该项目的总体目标是测试老年人在能够将mPFC招募到记忆网络中时是否会在学习和记忆任务中表现最佳，以及当招募被促进或由鼓励mPFC在编码(目标1)或提取(目标2)之前的时刻参与的任务启动时，他们是否更有可能这样做。研究表明，选定的任务(例如，听音乐、自我反省或找回记忆)可以增强老年人的记忆表现，并增加mPFC的参与度。参与者将在接受记忆任务之前参与这些任务，大脑活动通过功能磁共振成像(FMRI)进行测量。有人假设，老年人的行为记忆增强是由mPFC招募介导的，在学习或提取之前参与这些任务将提高记忆性能。该项目汇集了在衰老和记忆、社会情绪记忆、功能磁共振成像和定量方法的使用方面具有互补专业知识的研究人员，以及将在本研究中使用的任务操作的具体经验。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.