Age-related differences in network structure and dynamic synchrony of cognitive control

• Published in: NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Vol. 236; p. 118070
• Main Authors: Hinault, T., Mijalkov, M., Pereira, J.B., Volpe, Giovanni, Bakke, A., Courtney, S.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.08.2021; Elsevier Limited; Elsevier
• Subjects: Age; aged; Aging; Basic Medicine; Biomarkers; Brain; Brain connectivity; Brain mapping; brain region; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; Cognitive control; controlled study; diffusion tensor imaging; DTI; EEG; Efficiency; electroencephalogram; Electroencephalography; executive function; female; fMRI; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Fysik; human; human experiment; Investigations; M/EEG; Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetoencephalography; male; Medical and Health Sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper; Memory; Multiplication & division; Neural networks; Neuroimaging; Neurosciences; Neurovetenskaper; Older people; Performance evaluation; Physical Sciences; Substantia alba; task positive network; white matter; Young adults; Aging; DTI; fMRI; Brain connectivity; M/EEG; Cognitive control
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118070
• ISSN: 1053-8119; 1095-9572

Cognitive trajectories vary greatly across older individuals, and the neural mechanisms underlying these differences remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate the cognitive variability in older adults by linking the influence of white matter microstructure on the task-related organization of fast and effective communications between brain regions. Using diffusion tensor imaging and electroencephalography, we show that individual differences in white matter network organization are associated with network clustering and efficiency in the alpha and high-gamma bands, and that functional network dynamics partly explain individual differences in cognitive control performance in older adults. We show that older individuals with high versus low structural network clustering differ in task-related network dynamics and cognitive performance. These findings were corroborated by investigating magnetoencephalography networks in an independent dataset. This multimodal (fMRI and biological markers) brain connectivity framework of individual differences provides a holistic account of how differences in white matter microstructure underlie age-related variability in dynamic network organization and cognitive performance.