Dataset Information

Shared neural recruitment across working memory and motor control tasks as a function of task difficulty and age.

ABSTRACT: Past research suggests that working memory (WM) and motor control may engage similar cognitive and neural mechanisms in older adults, particularly when task difficulty increases. However, much of this evidence arises from comparisons across behavioral and imaging studies that test only one of the foregoing functional domains. The current study used fMRI within the same group of older adults to investigate whether WM and motor control recruit common mechanisms, and whether recruitment increased with task demand and age. A conjunction analysis across WM and motor tasks revealed engagement of several frontoparietal regions as a function of increasing task demand. A separate conjunction analysis which included age as a predictor showed comparable regions exhibit increased recruitment with both increasing task demand and age. Results suggest that the recruitment of common frontoparietal regions across WM and motor tasks in response to task difficulty is maintained across the older adult lifespan.

SUBMITTER: Gerver CR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7316585 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Shared neural recruitment across working memory and motor control tasks as a function of task difficulty and age.

Gerver Courtney R CR Neely Kristina A KA Kurkela Kyle A KA Diaz Michele T MT Goodman Jordan T JT Blouch Samantha S Samimy Shaadee S Dennis Nancy A NA

Neuropsychology, development, and cognition. Section B, Aging, neuropsychology and cognition 20191226 6

Past research suggests that working memory (WM) and motor control may engage similar cognitive and neural mechanisms in older adults, particularly when task difficulty increases. However, much of this evidence arises from comparisons across behavioral and imaging studies that test only one of the foregoing functional domains. The current study used fMRI within the same group of older adults to investigate whether WM and motor control recruit common mechanisms, and whether recruitment increased w ...[more]

PMID: 31877068

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Project description:N-back working memory (WM) tasks necessitate the maintenance and updating of dynamic rehearsal sets during performance. The delayed matching-to-sample (dMTS) task is another WM task, which in turn involves the encoding, maintenance, and retrieval of stimulus representations in sequential order. Because both n-back and dMTS engage WM function, we hypothesized that compared to a control task not taxing WM, training on the n-back task would be associated with better performance on dMTS by virtue of training a shared mental capacity. We tested this hypothesis by randomly assigning subjects (N = 43) to train on either the n-back (including 2-back and 3-back levels) or an active control task. Following training, dMTS was administered in the fMRI scanner. The n-back group performed marginally better than the active control group on dMTS. In addition, although the n-back group improved more on the less difficult 2-back level than the more difficult 3-back level across training sessions, it was improvement on the 3-back level that accounted for 21% of the variance in dMTS performance. For the control group, improvement in training across sessions was unrelated to dMTS performance. At the neural level, greater activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus, right posterior parietal cortex, and the cerebellum distinguished the n-back group from the control group in the maintenance phase of dMTS. Degree of improvement on the 3-back level across training sessions was correlated with activation in right lateral prefrontal and motor cortices in the maintenance phase of dMTS. Our results suggest that although n-back training is more likely to improve performance in easier blocks, it is improvement in more difficult blocks that is predictive of performance on a target task drawing on WM. In addition, the extent to which training on a task can transfer to another task is likely due to the engagement of shared cognitive capacities and underlying neural substrates-in this case WM.

Dataset Information

Shared neural recruitment across working memory and motor control tasks as a function of task difficulty and age.

Publications

Shared neural recruitment across working memory and motor control tasks as a function of task difficulty and age.

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