Improving Working Memory in Older Adults by Restoring Large-Scale Cortical Interactions

通过恢复大规模皮层相互作用来改善老年人的工作记忆

• 批准号: 10165454
• 负责人: Robert Reinhart
• 金额: $ 41.25万
• 依托单位: BOSTON UNIVERSITY (CHARLES RIVER CAMPUS)
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-08-15 至 2024-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10165454
• 关键词: 20 year old; Adult; Age; Age-associated memory impairment; Aging; Alzheimer' s Disease; Anatomy; Architecture; Area; Basic Science; Behavior; Behavioral; Brain; Brain Diseases; Clinical; Code; Cognition; Cognitive; Coupled; Coupling; Custom; Data; Data Collection; Dementia; Deterioration; Development; Double-Blind Method; Elderly; Electric Stimulation; Electroencephalography; Electrophysiology (science); Foundations; Frequencies; Goals; Hour; Human; Impaired cognition; Impairment; Individual; Individual Differences; Intervention; Knowledge; Lead; Longevity; Maintenance; Measurement; Measures; Medial; Mediating; Memory impairment; Methods; Mind; Nature; Neurocognitive; Neurosciences; Performance; Periodicity; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Phase; Physiological; Population; Prefrontal Cortex; Prevalence; Procedures; Protocols documentation; Reproducibility of Results; Research; Research Personnel; Sample Size; Scheme; Short-Term Memory; Source; Specificity; System; Techniques; Technology; Temporal Lobe; Testing; age related; age related neurodegeneration; aged; base; cognitive enhancement; cognitive neuroscience; cognitive performance; density; executive function; experimental study; flexibility; frontal lobe; functional improvement; healthy aging; improved; indexing; information processing; innovation; insight; interest; neurophysiology; neuroregulation; next generation; novel; novel therapeutics; power analysis; programs; reconstruction; relating to nervous system; statistics; support network; theories; tool; young adult

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Over the last century, we have witnessed an astonishing rise in the prevalence of cognitive decline and dementia in older adults 1-3, which is expected to grow even faster in coming years as the global population rapidly ages 3-5. For decades, deficits in working memory - the ability to hold behaviorally useful information “in mind” over a period of seconds - have characterized a central feature of the normal cognitive decline observed across the adult lifespan and the abnormal rapid cognitive deterioration associated with dementias, such as Alzheimer's disease 6-10. These facts motivate the need to advance greater understanding of the brain mechanisms underlying age-related working memory deficits, and develop effective methods to maintain or even improve cognitive performance in older adults 11-13. Here, we propose to examine the mechanisms of age-related working memory impairment in healthy humans from a physiologically inspired perspective centered on large-scale brain networks and how they interact through synchronized electrophysiological rhythms 14-18. We focus on neural coding schemes (i.e., cross-frequency coupling and phase synchronization) hypothesized to index flexible large-scale circuits that integrate information across multiple temporal and spatial scales during cognition. We combine high-density electroencephalographic (EEG) measurements of synchronized rhythms with individually customized high-definition transcranial alternating-current stimulation (HD-tACS) 19-21 to determine whether it is possible to modify components of frontotemporal networks and cause improvements in working memory performance for older adults. Our preliminary data are highly encouraging and indicate that we can causally manipulate the synchronization of long-range low-frequency rhythms, increase local phase-amplitude coupling, and rapidly improve working memory behavior in older adults aged 60-76 years to accuracy levels equivalent to those of 20-year-olds. The goals of the research program are to use novel neuroscience tools and analysis procedures to gain a deeper understanding of the brain mechanisms underlying age-related working memory impairment, and contribute new knowledge to the development of effective, non-pharmacological interventions for improving cognition in healthy aging and clinical populations.

项目摘要/摘要 在上个世纪，我们目睹了认知能力下降和 老年人1-3的痴呆症，随着全球人口的未来，预计将在未来几年增长速度 迅速年龄3-5岁。几十年来，在工作记忆中定义 - 持有行为有用的信息的能力” 思维”在几秒钟内 - 已经表征了观察到正常认知下降的主要特征 在整个成人的寿命和与痴呆症相关的异常快速认知确定，例如 阿尔茨海默氏病6-10。这些事实激发了人们对大脑的进一步了解 与年龄相关的工作记忆的基础机制定义并开发有效的方法来维护或 甚至改善了老年人的认知表现11-13。在这里，我们建议检查 从身体启发的角度来看，健康人类与年龄有关的工作记忆障碍 集中在大型大脑网络以及它们如何通过同步电生理学相互作用 节奏14-18。我们专注于神经编码方案（即跨频耦合和相位同步） 假设索引索引灵活的大规模电路，这些电路在多个临时和 认知过程中的空间尺度。我们结合了高密度脑电图（EEG）的测量 与单独自定义的高清经颅替代刺激同步节奏 （HD-TACS）19-21确定是否可以修改额叶网络的组件和 导致老年人的工作记忆表现改善。我们的初步数据很高 鼓励并表明我们可以为远距离低频的同步而发生。 节奏，增加局部相位振幅耦合，并迅速改善较旧的工作记忆行为 年龄在60-76岁之间的成年人，与20岁儿童相当的准确水平。研究目标 计划是使用新颖的神经科学工具和分析程序来深入了解 与年龄相关的工作记忆障碍的脑机制，并为 开发有效的非药理学干预措施，以改善健康衰老和 临床人群。