According to a new study published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience and led by University of Florida neuroscientists, Adam Woods, Ph.D. and Jessica Kraft, thinning of the cortex in several brain regions in advanced age may be linked with a decrease in the brain’s processing speed.
Using a 3T Siemens MRI scanner, researchers from University of Florida and Unviersity of Arizona’s McKnight Brain Institutes assessed cortical thickness in 186 adults age 65-88. The investigators reported finding an association between significant cortical thinning in several brain regions and poorer scores on the Posit Science’s Brain HQ Double Decision cognitive training task.
“These findings may prove important in planning future interventions targeting the engagement of the right hemisphere, such as non-invasive brain stimulation, to enhance training approaches using the Double Decision task.
Additionally, this study provides some of the first insight into structural brain areas that may play a critical role in the utility of the Double Decision task as both an assessment and cognitive training tool. This may prove vital in expanding our understanding of age-related changes in the ability to interpret and respond to our environment quickly as we get older.”
Adam Woods, Ph.D., associate director of UF’s Center for Cognitive Aging and Memory and an associate professor of clinical and health psychology in UF’s College of Public Health and Health Professions
Read the full announcement on the UF MBI website.