Martinon, Léa M, Riby, Leigh M, Poerio, Giulia et al. (3 more authors) (2019) Patterns of on-task thought in older age are associated with changes in functional connectivity between temporal and prefrontal regions. Brain and Cognition. pp. 118-128. ISSN 0278-2626
Abstract
Humans spend a large proportion of their time engaged in thoughts unrelated to the task being performed, a tendency that declines with age. However, a clear neuro-cognitive account of what underlies this decrease is lacking. This study addresses the possibility that age-related changes in off-task thinking are correlated with changes in the intrinsic organisation of the brain. Laboratory measures of ongoing thought were recorded in young and older individuals, who also participated in a resting state fMRI experiment. Older individuals showed reduced connectivity between the left anterior temporal lobe with prefrontal aspects of the DMN. We found that off-task thinking did not increase when task demands were lower for older adults, which is a pattern repeatedly seen in younger individuals. Finally, we demonstrated that these neural and thought patterns were linked - for younger participants only, reductions in the strength of connectivity were related to a greater shift towards off-task thoughts when task demands decreased. Importantly, in the older individuals, lower connectivity between the same regions was linked to preserved performance on a creativity task. These data suggest that the age-related reduction of off-task thought may be related to reduced communication between temporal and prefrontal DMN regions in ageing.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Psychology (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 14 May 2019 09:50 |
Last Modified: | 29 Nov 2024 01:07 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2019.04.002 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.bandc.2019.04.002 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:146001 |
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