Leveraging mPFC engagement to induce improvements in older adults' memory

利用 mPFC 参与来改善老年人的记忆力

基本信息

批准号：
1823795
负责人：
Elizabeth Kensinger
金额：
$ 59.74万
依托单位：
Boston College
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2018
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2018-09-15 至 2022-10-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1823795&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Leveraging mPFC engagement induce improvements

项目摘要

The demands of the modern world require continuous learning throughout the lifespan. Even with increasing evidence that there are optimal brain states (e.g. patterns of synchronous neural activity) for learning and memory, little is known about how these optimal states may shift across the lifespan or what may be done to achieve an optimal state during task learning and performance. The proposed research tests the general hypothesis that training older adults to use neural circuitry that is relatively preserved in aging may enable them to continue use of that circuitry when asked to learn or to retrieve information. The potential impact of this research for the later-life learning is high. It could lead to new strategies to teach older adults how to maximize their chance of memory success, especially in scenarios when a learning task is imminent, such as when in an appointment with a physician. Using social media and in-person events, this project will provide outreach activities to inform older adults about scientific findings pertinent to their understanding of brain and cognitive aging. Lateral prefrontal cortex (IPFC) engagement corresponds with memory success. Older adults recruit IPFC differently than younger adults, and age seems to alter connections between IPFC and the medial temporal lobe (MTL) regions critical for successful memory. Older adults remain able to recruit medial prefrontal lobe regions (mPFC) into memory networks and show relative preservation of the control processes implemented by mPFC. Even though later-life learners can recruit mPFC regions in the service of memory, they often do not; instead, they rely on additional recruitment of lPFC to compensate. The overarching goal of this project is to test whether older adults will perform optimally on learning and memory tasks when they can recruit mPFC into memory networks, and whether they are more likely to do so when that recruitment is facilitated or primed by tasks that encourage mPFC engagement in moments that precede encoding (Aim 1) or retrieval (Aim 2). The selected tasks (e.g. listening to music, reflecting on the self, or retrieving memories) have separately been shown to enhance older adults' memory performance and to increase mPFC engagement. Participants will engage in these tasks prior to undertaking a memory task, with brain activity measured via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). It is hypothesized that older adults' behavioral memory enhancements are mediated by mPFC recruitment, and engaging in these tasks prior to learning or retrieval will increase memory performance. This project brings together researchers with complementary expertise in the cognitive neuroscience of aging and memory, socioemotional memory, use of fMRI and quantitative methods, and specific experience with the task manipulations to be used in this study.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

现代世界的需求需要在整个生命周期内持续学习。即使有越来越多的证据表明，学习和记忆的最佳大脑状态（例如同步神经活动的模式），对于这些最佳状态如何在整个寿命中转移或在任务学习和表现过程中实现最佳状态的方法知之甚少。拟议的研究检验了一个普遍的假设，即训练老年人使用相对保存在衰老中的神经回路可能会使他们在要求学习或检索信息时继续使用该电路。这项研究对后期学习的潜在影响很高。这可能会导致新的策略教老年人如何最大限度地提高自己的记忆成功机会，尤其是在学习任务即将到来的情况下，例如在与医生的约会时。使用社交媒体和面对面的活动，该项目将提供外展活动，以告知老年人科学发现与他们对大脑和认知衰老有关的理解。前额叶皮层（IPFC）互动与内存成功相对应。老年人招募IPFC的招募与年轻人不同，并且年龄似乎改变了IPFC与内侧颞叶（MTL）区域之间对成功记忆至关重要的连接。老年人仍然能够将内侧前叶叶区域（MPFC）招募到存储网络中，并显示MPFC实施的控制过程的相对保留。即使以后的学习者可以在为记忆服务中招募MPFC地区，但他们通常不会。相反，他们依靠LPFC的其他招募来补偿。该项目的总体目标是测试老年人在可以将MPFC招募到存储网络中时是否会在学习和记忆任务上表现最佳，以及当该招聘会促进或通过鼓励MPFC参与的任务来促进或提出招聘时，他们是否更有可能这样做。已单独显示所选任务（例如听音乐，反思自我或检索记忆），以增强老年人的记忆力并增加MPFC的参与度。参与者将在执行记忆任务之前从事这些任务，并通过功能磁共振成像（fMRI）测量大脑活动。假设老年人的行为记忆增强是由MPFC招募介导的，并且在学习或检索之前从事这些任务将提高记忆力的表现。该项目将研究人员汇集在衰老和记忆的认知神经科学，社会情感记忆，使用fMRI和定量方法方面的认知神经科学方面，以及在本研究中使用的任务操作的具体经验。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过评估智力的MERIT和BRODIT和BRODIT和BRODIT和BRODIT和广泛的影响。