Abstract
Previous studies have shown that synchronous neural interactions (SNIs) underlying healthy brain function can be readily distinguished from neural anomalies associated with diseases including dementia; however, it is imperative to identify biomarkers that facilitate early identification of individuals at risk for cognitive decline before the onset of clinical symptoms. Here, we evaluated whether variation in brain function, controlling for age, corresponds with subtle decrements in cognitive performance in cognitively healthy women. A total of 251 women (age range 24–102 yr) who performed above established cutoffs on the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) also underwent a task-free magnetoencephalography scan from which SNIs were computed. The results demonstrated that increased SNI was significantly associated with decreased cognitive performance (r2 = 0.923, P = 0.009), controlling for age. Compared with the lowest performers with normal cognition (MoCA = 26), SNI of the highest performers (MoCA = 30) was associated with decorrelation primarily in the right anterior temporal cortex region, with additional (weaker) foci in left anterior temporal cortex, right posterior temporal cortex, and cerebellum. The findings highlight the relevance of neural network decorrelation on cognitive functioning and suggest that subtle increases in SNI may presage future cognitive impairment.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 963-967 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Journal of neurophysiology |
Volume | 129 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023 American Physiological Society. All rights reserved.
Keywords
- cognition
- decorrelation
- magnetoencephalography
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article
- Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't