age-related neural dedifferentiation in the motor system与年龄有关的神经运动系统中去分化.pdfVIP

Age-Related Neural Dedifferentiation in the Motor System 1 1 2 2 1 Joshua Carp *, Joonkoo Park , Andrew Hebrank , Denise C. Park , Thad A. Polk 1 Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America, 2 Center for Vital Longevity, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas, United States of America Abstract Recent neuroimaging studies using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) show that distributed patterns of brain activation elicited by different visual stimuli are less distinctive in older adults than in young adults. However, less is known about the effects of aging on the neural representation of movement. The present study used MVPA to compare the distinctiveness of motor representations in young and older adults. We also investigated the contributions of brain structure to age differences in the distinctiveness of motor representations. We found that neural distinctiveness was reduced in older adults throughout the motor control network. Although aging was also associated with decreased gray matter volume in these regions, age differences in motor distinctiveness remained significant after controlling for gray matter volume. Our results suggest that age-related neural dedifferentiation is not restricted to sensory perception and is instead a more general feature of the aging brain. Citation: Carp J, Park J, Hebrank A, Park DC, Polk TA (2011) Age-Related Neural Dedifferentiation in the Motor System. PLoS ONE 6(12): e29411. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0029411 Editor: Nicole Wenderoth, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium Received August 31, 2011; Accepted November 28, 2011; Published December 22, 2011 Copyright: 2011 Carp et al. This is an open-access arti