Brain Activity and Functional Connectivity Patterns Associated With Fast and Slow Motor Sequence Learning in Late Middle Adulthood.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Aznarez-Sanado M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8792532 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Changes in behaviour resulting from environmental influences, development and learning1-5 are commonly quantified on the basis of a few hand-picked features2-4,6,7 (for example, the average pitch of acoustic vocalizations3), assuming discrete classes of behaviours (such as distinct vocal syllables)2,3,8-10. However, such methods generalize poorly across different behaviours and model systems and may miss important components of change. Here we present a more-general account of behavioural change that is based on nearest-neighbour statistics11-13, and apply it to song development in a songbird, the zebra finch3. First, we introduce the concept of 'repertoire dating', whereby each rendition of a behaviour (for example, each vocalization) is assigned a repertoire time, reflecting when similar renditions were typical in the behavioural repertoire. Repertoire time isolates the components of vocal variability that are congruent with long-term changes due to vocal learning and development, and stratifies the behavioural repertoire into 'regressions', 'anticipations' and 'typical renditions'. Second, we obtain a holistic, yet low-dimensional, description of vocal change in terms of a stratified 'behavioural trajectory', revealing numerous previously unrecognized components of behavioural change on fast and slow timescales, as well as distinct patterns of overnight consolidation1,2,4,14,15 across the behavioral repertoire. We find that diurnal changes in regressions undergo only weak consolidation, whereas anticipations and typical renditions consolidate fully. Because of its generality, our nonparametric description of how behaviour evolves relative to itself-rather than to a potentially arbitrary, experimenter-defined goal2,3,14,16-appears well suited for comparing learning and change across behaviours and species17,18, as well as biological and artificial systems5.
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Project description:Social learning, as an information acquisition process, enables intergenerational transmission and the stabilisation of cultural forms, generating and sustaining behavioural traditions within human groups. Archaeologically, such social processes might become observable by identifying repetitions in the record that result from the execution of standardised actions. From a zooarchaeological perspective, the processing and consumption of carcasses may be used to identify these types of phenomena at the sites. To investigate this idea, several faunal assemblages from Bolomor Cave (Valencia, Spain, MIS 9-5e) and Gran Dolina TD10-1 (Burgos, Spain, MIS 9) were analysed. The data show that some butchery activities exhibit variability as a result of multiple conditioning factors and, therefore, the identification of cultural patterns through the resulting cut-marks presents additional difficulties. However, other activities, such as marrow removal by means of intentional breakage, seem to reflect standardised actions unrelated to the physical characteristics of the bones. The statistical tests we applied show no correlation between the less dense areas of the bones and the location of impacts. Comparison of our experimental series with the archaeological samples indicates a counter-intuitive selection of the preferred locus of impact, especially marked in the case of Bolomor IV. This fact supports the view that bone breakage was executed counter-intuitively and repetitively on specific sections because it may have been part of an acquired behavioural repertoire. These reiterations differ between levels and sites, suggesting the possible existence of cultural identities or behavioural predispositions dependant on groups. On this basis, the study of patterns could significantly contribute to the identification of occupational strategies and organisation of the hominids in a territory. In this study, we use faunal data in identifying the mechanics of intergenerational information transmission within Middle Pleistocene human communities and provide new ideas for the investigation of occupational dynamics from a zooarchaeological approach.
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Project description:ObjectivesA growing body of research has investigated psychosocial predictors of subjective well-being (SWB), a key component of healthy aging, which comprises life satisfaction and affective well-being. However, few studies have examined how executive function (EF)-a collection of adaptive, goal-directed control processes-could affect SWB in middle and late adulthood.MethodsBy analyzing a nationally representative adult cohort ranging from the early 30s to early 80s from the Midlife Development in the United States 2 study, we examined two potential mediators (i.e., sense of control vs positive reappraisal) that could underlie the relation between EF and SWB. Further, we assessed how these mediational pathways would differ across midlife and older adulthood.ResultsOur results revealed that sense of control, but not positive reappraisal, significantly mediated the relation between EF and life satisfaction and affective well-being. Moreover, these mediation effects were significantly moderated by age, with more pronounced effects among older adults.DiscussionWe found that EF in later adulthood facilitates a sense of control over obstacles that interfere with the attainment of goals, which in turn is associated with greater life satisfaction and positive affect. This underscores the role of EF as an increasingly valuable resource that buffers against declines in sense of control and SWB in late adulthood.
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Project description:ObjectivesFrom a theoretical point of view, older adults may not necessarily face a greater risk of becoming lonely than middle-aged adults but are more likely at a disadvantage in fighting loneliness. Therefore, in this study, we differentiate between the risk of becoming lonely and the risk of remaining lonely.MethodsA large longitudinal data set representative of the German noninstitutionalized population from 40 to 85 years of age (N = 15,408; 49% female participants) was used in the analysis. Lagged logistic regression models were estimated to investigate the effect of earlier experiences of severe loneliness on the risk of being lonely after three years across middle age and late adulthood. Individual differences in health, views on aging, and social activities were taken into account to explore their role in age differences in the risk of remaining lonely.ResultsThe analysis revealed marginal age differences in the risk of becoming lonely but a marked age gradient regarding the risk of remaining lonely. Lonely older adults who were older than 75 years of age were more likely to remain lonely after three years than lonely middle-aged adults. Controlling for individual differences in health, views on aging as social loss, and social activities accounted for this age difference.DiscussionInterventions against loneliness may prioritize older age groups because losses in capacities, shifts in motivations, and a degraded opportunity structure render it increasingly less likely that older adults leave a state of loneliness on their own accord.
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Project description:BACKGROUND:Inhibitory deficits in motor cortex in schizophrenia have been well demonstrated using short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) by transcranial magnetic stimulation. However, it remains unknown whether these deficits originate from dysfunction of motor cortex itself or reflect abnormal modulations of motor cortex by other schizophrenia-related brain areas. METHODS:The study was completed by 24 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and 30 healthy control subjects. SICI was obtained by delivering transcranial magnetic stimulation over the left motor cortex. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging fractional anisotropy were used to measure functional connectivity (FC) and white matter microstructures, respectively. Stimulation sites for SICI at motor cortex were used as the seeds to obtain whole-brain FC maps. Clinical symptoms were assessed with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. RESULTS:In schizophrenia, left prefrontal cortex-motor cortex FC was inversely associated with SICI but positively associated with the underlying white matter microstructure at the left corona radiata and also associated with overall symptoms (all corrected p < .05). Mediation analysis showed that the prefrontal-motor cortex FC significantly mediated the corona radiata white matter effects on SICI (p = .007). CONCLUSIONS:Higher resting-state left prefrontal-motor cortex FC, accompanied by a higher fractional anisotropy of left corona radiata, predicted fewer inhibitory deficits, suggesting that the inhibitory deficits in motor cortex in schizophrenia may in part be mediated by a top-down prefrontal influence. SICI may serve as a robust biomarker indexing inhibitory dysfunction at anatomic as well as circuitry levels in schizophrenia.
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Project description:Decreased neural plasticity is observed with healthy ageing in the primary sensorimotor (SM1) cortex thought to participate in motor learning and memory consolidation processes. In the present magnetoencephalography study, the post-training reorganization of resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) and its relation with motor learning and early consolidation in 14 young (19-30 years) and 14 old (66-70 years) healthy participants were investigated. At the behavioral level, participants were trained on a motor sequence learning task then retested 20-30 min later for transient offline gains in performance. Using a sensorimotor seed-based approach, rsFC relying on beta band power envelope correlation was estimated immediately before and 10 min after the learning episode. Post-training changes in rsFC (from before to after learning) were correlated with motor learning performance and with the offline improvement in performance within the hour after learning. Young and old participants exhibited differential patterns of sensorimotor-related rsFC, bearing specific relationships with motor learning and consolidation. Our findings suggest that rsFC changes following learning reflect the offline processing of the new motor skill and contribute to the early memory consolidation within the hour after learning. Furthermore, differences in post-training changes in rsFC between young and old participants support the hypothesis that ageing modulates the neural circuits underlying the learning of a new motor skill and the early subsequent consolidation stages. Hum Brain Mapp 38:923-937, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Project description:IntroductionWe examined longitudinal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarker changes among cognitively normal individuals with 10.7 years follow-up, on average.MethodsAnalyses included 278 participants (M age = 57.5 years); 94 have progressed from normal cognition to mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Amyloid beta (Aβ)42/Aβ40, phosphorylated tau181 (p-tau181), and total tau (t-tau) were measured using automated electrochemiluminescence assays.ResultsApolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 carriers had lower baseline Aβ42/Aβ40, but longitudinal Aβ42/Aβ40 decreases did not differ by APOE ε4 after accounting for Aβ42/Aβ40 positivity. Lower baseline Aβ42/Aβ40 was associated with greater increases in tau (more strongly in males), and APOE ε4 genotype was associated with greater tau increases after reaching Aβ42/Aβ40 positivity. Participants who progressed to MCI had more abnormal biomarker levels and greater tau increases prior to MCI symptom onset. Biomarkers were more abnormal among older adults, but unrelated to sex or education.DiscussionOur results confirm accelerated biomarker changes during preclinical AD and highlight the important role of amyloid levels in tau accelerations.
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Project description:In older adults, motor sequence learning (MSL) is largely intact. However, consolidation of newly learned motor sequences is impaired compared to younger adults, and there is evidence that brain areas supporting enhanced consolidation via sleep degrade with age. It is known that brain activity in hippocampal-cortical-striatal areas is important for sleep-dependent, off-line consolidation of motor-sequences. Yet, the intricacies of how both age and sleep alter communication within this network of brain areas, which facilitate consolidation, are not known. In this study, 37 young (age 20-35) and 49 older individuals (age 55-75) underwent resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after training on a MSL task as well as after either a nap or a period of awake rest. Young participants who napped showed strengthening of functional connectivity (FC) between motor, striatal, and hippocampal areas, compared to older subjects regardless of sleep condition. Follow-up analyses revealed this effect was driven by younger participants who showed an increase in FC between striatum and motor cortices, as well as older participants who showed decreased FC between the hippocampus, striatum, and precuneus. Therefore, different effects of sleep were observed in younger vs. older participants, where young participants primarily showed increased communication in the striatal-motor areas, while older participants showed decreases in key nodes of the default mode network and striatum. Performance gains correlated with FC changes in young adults, and this association was much greater in participants who napped compared to those who stayed awake. Performance gains also correlated with FC changes in older adults, but only in those who napped. This study reveals that, while there is no evidence of time-dependent forgetting/deterioration of performance, older adults exhibit a completely different pattern of FC changes during consolidation compared to younger adults, and lose the benefit that sleep affords to memory consolidation.
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Project description:It has been shown that varying the spatial versus symbolic nature of stimulus presentation and response production, which affects stimulus-response (S-R) mapping requirements, influences the magnitude of implicit sequence learning (Koch and Hoffman, 2000). Here, we evaluated how spatial and symbolic stimuli and responses affect the neural bases of sequence learning. We selectively eliminated the spatial component of stimulus presentation (spatial vs. symbolic), response execution (manual vs. vocal), or both. Fourteen participants performed the alternating serial reaction time task under these conditions in an MRI scanner, with interleaved acquisition to allow for recording of vocal response reaction times. Nine regions of interest (ROIs) were selected to test the hypothesis that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was preferentially engaged for spatially cued conditions and cerebellum lobule HVI, crus I and II were associated with symbolically cued learning. We found that the left cerebellum lobule HVI was selectively recruited for symbolic learning and the percent signal change in this region was correlated with learning magnitude under the symbolic conditions. In contrast, the DLPFC did not exhibit selective activation for learning under spatial conditions. The inferior parietal lobule exhibited increased activation during learning regardless of the condition, supporting its role in forming an abstract representation of learned sequences. These findings reveal different brain networks that are flexibly engaged depending on the conditions of sequence learning.
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