Abstract

Cognitive training has been shown effective in improving the cognitive function of older adults. While training related plasticity of the brain has been observed at different levels, it is still open to exploration whether local functional connectivity (FC) may be affected by training. Here, we examined the neuroimaging data from a previous randomized-controlled double-blinded behavioural study, in which healthy older adults participated in a 3-month cognitive training program. Resting-state fMRI was acquired at baseline and one year after training. The local FC in the brain was estimated using the regional homogeneity (ReHo), and the high ReHo clusters (HRCs) were extracted to quantify the level of local FC integration. Results showed that: (i) HRCs exhibited a power-law size distribution; (ii) local FC were less integrated in older participants than in younger participants; (iii) local FC in older participants of the training group became more integrated after training than the control group; (iv) the baseline local FC integration was positively correlated with educational level. These results indicated a training-related alteration in local FC.

Details

Title
The effect of cognitive training on the brain’s local connectivity organization in healthy older adults
Author
Deng, Lifu 1 ; Cheng, Yan 2 ; Cao, Xinyi 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Feng, Wei 4 ; Zhu, Hong 1 ; Jiang, Lijuan 2 ; Wu, Wenyuan 4 ; Tong, Shanbao 5 ; Sun, Junfeng 5 ; Li, Chunbo 6 

1  School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China 
2  Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Centre, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China 
3  Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Centre, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Clinical Neurocognitive Research Centre, Shanghai Mental Health Centre, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China 
4  Department of Psychiatry, Tongji Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China 
5  School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; Brain Science and Technology Research Centre, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China 
6  Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Centre, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Institute of Psychology and Behavioural Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; Brain Science and Technology Research Centre, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China; Centre for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT), Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai, China 
Pages
1-11
Publication year
2019
Publication date
Jun 2019
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-45463-x
ProQuest document ID
2244646336
Copyright
© 2019. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.