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Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on September 29, 2009
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhp207
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

A Multivariate Analysis of Age-Related Differences in Default Mode and Task-Positive Networks across Multiple Cognitive Domains

Cheryl L. Grady1,2,3, Andrea B. Protzner3,4, Natasa Kovacevic1, Stephen C. Strother1,5, Babak Afshin-Pour1,6, Magda Wojtowicz1, John A. E. Anderson1,3, Nathan Churchill1,5 and Anthony R. McIntosh1,3

1 Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest, Toronto, Ontario M6A 2E1, Canada, 2 Department of Psychiatry, 3 Department of Psychology, 4 Krembil Neuroscience Center, University Health Network, 5 Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A1, Canada, 6 Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Control and Intelligent Processing Center of Excellence, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Address correspondence to Cheryl L. Grady, Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest, 3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario M6A 2E1, Canada. Email: cgrady{at}rotman-baycrest.on.ca.

We explored the effects of aging on 2 large-scale brain networks, the default mode network (DMN) and the task-positive network (TPN). During functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning, young and older participants carried out 4 visual tasks: detection, perceptual matching, attentional cueing, and working memory. Accuracy of performance was roughly matched at 80% across tasks and groups. Modulations of activity across conditions were assessed, as well as functional connectivity of both networks. Younger adults showed a broader engagement of the DMN and older adults a more extensive engagement of the TPN. Functional connectivity in the DMN was reduced in older adults, whereas the main pattern of TPN connectivity was equivalent in the 2 groups. Age-specific connectivity also was seen in TPN regions. Increased activity in TPN areas predicted worse accuracy on the tasks, but greater expression of a connectivity pattern associated with a right dorsolateral prefrontal TPN region, seen only in older adults, predicted better performance. These results provide further evidence for age-related differences in the DMN and new evidence of age differences in the TPN. Increased use of the TPN may reflect greater demand on cognitive control processes in older individuals that may be partially offset by alterations in prefrontal functional connectivity.

Key Words: aging • attention • frontal lobe • functional MRI • memory


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