Double Jeopardy: Cognitive Decline in Depression & Aging

描述（由申请人提供）：抑郁症状在成年人中很普遍，衰老和抑郁都与认知功能障碍独立相关，特别是在“执行”控制领域。该项目的主要目的是确定老年抑郁症患者是否由于衰老和抑郁症状的累加或倍增效应而处于执行功能障碍的“双重危险”中。研究方法将对年轻人（18-30岁）和老年人（65-80岁）进行调查，同时执行一项新的认知任务，旨在暂时分离认知控制的组成部分。高密度事件相关电位（ERPs）将用于分离支持认知控制实施的战略过程，以及支持处理冲突检测和性能监测的评估过程。具体目的是：1)确定衰老和抑郁症状是否与认知控制能力下降有关，这是通过“线索斯特鲁普”任务评估的；2)利用erp在时间和解剖学上分离与认知控制相关的成分过程，并确定年龄和抑郁是否对这些过程有不同的影响；3)确定年龄和抑郁对认知控制的综合影响是相加的还是相乘的。本研究的具体假设是：1)年龄的增长和抑郁症状都导致了cue - stroop表现的下降；2）

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Depressive symptoms are prevalent adults, and both aging and depression are independently associated with impairments in cognitive functioning, particularly in the domain of "executive" control. The primary aim of this project is to determine if older depressed adults are at "double jeopardy" for executive dysfunction due to an additive or multiplicative effect of aging and depressive symptoms. Study methods will examine younger (ages 18-30) and older (ages 65-80) adults while performing a novel cognitive task designed to temporally dissociate components of cognitive control. High-density event-related potentials (ERPs) will be used to dissociate strategic processes supporting the implementation of cognitive control, and evaluative processes supporting the detection of processing conflicts and performance monitoring. The specific aims are to: 1) determine if aging and depressive symptoms are associated with declines in cognitive control as assessed using a "cued-Stroop" task; 2) temporally and anatomically dissociate component processes associated with cognitive control using ERPs and determine if aging and depression differentially affect these processes; and 3) determine if the combined effect of aging and depression on cognitive control is additive or multiplicative. The specific hypotheses motivating the proposed research are that: 1) both increasing age and depressive symptoms contribute to declines in cued-Stroop performance; 2) increasing age is associated with impairments in strategic aspects of cognitive control (mediated by the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), and depressive symptoms are associated with impaired evaluative processes (mediated by the anterior cingulate cortex); and 3) older depressed adults exhibit significantly greater declines in cognitive control than older non-depressed adults or young depressed adults. Accomplishing the aims outlined in this proposal will provide the foundation for future studies examining the effect of aging and depression on cognition and activities of daily living.