Abstract
This study seeks to define the role of predictive values of the motor speed, inhibition control, and fluid and crystallized intelligence in estimating the cortical thickness in healthy elderly. Forty-six older healthy subjects (37 women, 9 men) over 60 years of age were included in the study. The participants were examined on 3.0 T MRI scanners. The protocol included standard anatomical sequences, to exclude brain pathology, and a high-resolution T1-weighted sequence used to estimate the cortical thickness. The neuropsychological protocol included fluid intelligence assessment (Raven Progressive Matrices), crystalized intelligence assessment (information or vocabulary subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R)), and executive functioning (Color Traits Test). The findings unraveled several interdependencies. The higher the intelligence, the thicker was the grey matter in nine regions of both hemispheres, but also some paradoxical reversed associations were found in four areas; all of them were localized along different sections of the cingulate gyrus in both hemispheres. An inverse association was found between crystallized intelligence and the thickness of the pars opecularis of the right hemisphere. The better the executive functioning, the thicker was the grey matter of a given region. The better the motor performance, the thicker was the grey matter of the rostral middle frontal area of the left hemisphere and the lingual gyrus of both hemispheres. In conclusion, the associations unraveled demonstrate that the neural mechanisms underlying healthy aging are complex and heterogenic across different cognitive domains and neuroanatomical regions. No brain aging theory seems to provide a suitable interpretative framework for all the results. A novel, more integrative approach to the brain aging should be considered.
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Acknowledgments
The work was funded by the National Science Center grants: Preludium UMO-2013/09/HS6/N/02634 and Miniatura UMO-2017/01/X/NZ4/00779. The FreeSurfer’s calculations were carried out at the Academic Computer Center in Gdańsk.
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The authors declare no conflicts of interest in relation to this article.
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Naumczyk, P. et al. (2018). Cognitive Predictors of Cortical Thickness in Healthy Aging. In: Pokorski, M. (eds) Clinical Medicine Research. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology(), vol 1116 . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/5584_2018_265
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/5584_2018_265
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