Neural correlates of age-related changes in dual-task performance

健康的衰老与不同认知领域的表现下降有关，其中包括同时执行两项活动(“双重任务”)。然而，这种与年龄相关的变化的神经生物学基础在很大程度上仍然是未知的。这个项目的目的是描述与双重任务中多个感觉、认知和运动需求的同时管理相关的皮质网络中与年龄相关的变化。先前的研究表明，在单一认知任务中，与年龄相关的区域大脑活动减少和增加。然而，对于双重任务，(I)年龄相关的多动是否构成有益的补偿或有害的神经去分化，(Ii)神经变化实际上在多大程度上是由于年龄，或者更确切地说，是由于操作水平，以及(Iii)它们如何与两个平行反应过程之间的非通道干扰有关，是开放的。这些问题的答案将通过比较年轻人和老年人(每个年龄组50人)的大样本的双重任务和单一任务来回答。使用功能磁共振成像和纤维束成像研究皮质分离以及结构、功能和有效的连接将导致认知控制系统与年龄相关的变化及其与感觉和运动网络相互作用的网络模型，并提供对以后生活中大脑-行为关系变化的更深层次的理解。

Healthy aging is associated with performance decline in various cognitive domains, among them the simultaneous execution of two activities ("dual-tasking"). The neurobiological basis of such age-related changes still is, however, largely unknown. The aim of this project is to characterize age-related changes in cortical networks that are associated with the simultaneous management of multiple sensory, cognitive and motor demands in dual tasks. Previous studies showed both age-related decreases and increases in regional brain activity during single cognitive tasks. For dual tasks, however, it is open (i) whether age-related hyperactivity constitutes beneficial compensation or detrimental neural dedifferentiation, (ii) to what extent the neural changes are actually due to age or rather to performance level, and (iii) how they relate to amodal versus modality-specific interference between two parallel reaction processes. These questions will be answered by comparing between dual and single tasks in a large sample of young and older adults (n = 50 per age group). The investigation of cortical segregation as well as structural, functional and effective connectivity using functional magnetic resonance imaging and fiber tractography will lead to network models of age-related changes in cognitive control systems and their interaction with sensory and motor networks and provide a deeper understanding of changes in brain-behavior relationships in later life.