Dependence of cognitive ability on synchronous neural interactions determined by magnetoencephalography

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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 languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)963-967
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of neurophysiology
Volume129
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Partial funding for this study was provided by the University of Minnesota (the Anita Kunin Chair in Women’s Healthy Brain Aging, the Brain and Genomics Fund McKnight Presidential Chair of Cognitive Neuroscience, the American Legion Brain Sciences Chair) and the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

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

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