TY - JOUR
T1 - Cortical grey matter content is associated with both age and bimanual performance, but is not observed to mediate age-related behavioural decline
AU - van Ruitenbeek, Peter
AU - Serbruyns, Leen
AU - Solesio-Jofre, Elena
AU - Meesen, Raf
AU - Cuypers, Koen
AU - Swinnen, Stephan P
PY - 2017/1/1
Y1 - 2017/1/1
N2 - Declines in both cortical grey matter and bimanual coordination performance are evident in healthy ageing. However, the relationship between ageing, bimanual performance, and grey matter loss remains unclear, particularly across the whole adult lifespan. Therefore, participants (N = 93, range 20-80 years) performed a complex Bimanual Tracking Task, and structural brain images were obtained using magnetic resonance imaging. Analyses revealed that age correlated negatively with task performance. Voxel-based morphometry analysis revealed that age was associated with grey matter declines in task-relevant cortical areas and that grey matter in these areas was negatively associated with task performance. However, no evidence for a mediating effect of grey matter in age-related bimanual performance decline was observed. We propose a new hypothesis that functional compensation may account for the observed absence of mediation, which is in line with the observed pattern of increased inter-individual variance in performance with age.
AB - Declines in both cortical grey matter and bimanual coordination performance are evident in healthy ageing. However, the relationship between ageing, bimanual performance, and grey matter loss remains unclear, particularly across the whole adult lifespan. Therefore, participants (N = 93, range 20-80 years) performed a complex Bimanual Tracking Task, and structural brain images were obtained using magnetic resonance imaging. Analyses revealed that age correlated negatively with task performance. Voxel-based morphometry analysis revealed that age was associated with grey matter declines in task-relevant cortical areas and that grey matter in these areas was negatively associated with task performance. However, no evidence for a mediating effect of grey matter in age-related bimanual performance decline was observed. We propose a new hypothesis that functional compensation may account for the observed absence of mediation, which is in line with the observed pattern of increased inter-individual variance in performance with age.
U2 - 10.1007/s00429-016-1226-9
DO - 10.1007/s00429-016-1226-9
M3 - Article
SN - 1863-2653
VL - 222
SP - 437
EP - 448
JO - Brain Structure & Function
JF - Brain Structure & Function
IS - 1
ER -