The neural substrate of expressive language functions in healthy and pathological aging

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Marcus Meinzer
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: from 2007 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 59921714

In the context of the increasing average lifespan worldwide, research on the underlying causes of age-related cognitive decline is of the utmost significance. Previous research using functional imaging techniques has linked behavioral changes in old age in several cognitive domains to reduced asymmetry of task-related cortical activity mainly in frontal brain areas. Still, little is known about the neural substrate of age-related word-retrieval difficulties even though these are (a) frequently observed in old-age and (b) among the earliest signs of pathological aging (i.e., dementia). Only one study so far used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a naming task and demonstrated reduced left-frontal lateralization in older adults, which was associated with impaired behavioral performance. The focus of the present project will be to further elucidate the neural concomitants of impaired word-finding in healthy older adults and in patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment. This will be accomplished by means of fMRI during several overt language tasks that specifically manipulate demands on frontal executive language functions. Here, the overt design will allow to relate age-related changes brain activity to behavioral performance. Moreover, we will explore whether the potentially detrimental lesslateralized activity pattern in old-age can be modulated by a training that is designed to strengthen left-frontal brain activity and wether this leads to an improvement of language function.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professor Bruce Crosson, Ph.D.