The goal of the proposed research is to understand better the neural correlates of memory preservation and impairment accompanying healthy, normal human aging. To this end, fMRI techniques will be applied to two domains of interest: (l) direct and indirect testing of memory, and (2) source memory. These domains focus on memory retrieval, and it is hoped that they will complement each other by revealing patterns of brain activity accompanying the complex behavioral patterns of spared and impaired memory processes in old age. Experiments 1, 2 and 3 test the hypothesis that patterns of brain activity in old age will be similar to those of young adults on indirect tests in which minimal age differences occur behaviorally, whereas such patterns will be quite different on direct tests in which older adults perform less well than young adults. Experiment 4 examines source memory, thought to preferentially involve the frontal lobes. Older adults are believed to experience disproportionate frontal deterioration, corresponding to their lower performance on source memory tasks. This experiment will test hypotheses that source memory involves regions of the frontal lobes, and that age-related source memory deficits correspond to lower activation levels in frontal regions. The focus of Experiment 5 is on the hippocampal formation whose specific role in direct tests remains elusive. This experiment attempts to characterize better the role that this brain structure plays in direct tests, and how this structure's activity may change in old age. Taken together, these studies should extend current knowledge of memory and aging by identifying neural correlates of age-related changes in information retrieval.
| Rosen, Allyson C; Prull, Matthew W; O'Hara, Ruth et al. (2002) Variable effects of aging on frontal lobe contributions to memory. Neuroreport 13:2425-8 |
