PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Anna Rieckmann
AU  - Sara Pudas
AU  - Lars Nyberg
TI  - Longitudinal Changes in Component Processes of Working Memory
AID  - 10.1523/ENEURO.0052-17.2017
DP  - 2017 Mar 01
TA  - eneuro
PG  - ENEURO.0052-17.2017
VI  - 4
IP  - 2
4099  - http://www.eneuro.org/content/4/2/ENEURO.0052-17.2017.short
4100  - http://www.eneuro.org/content/4/2/ENEURO.0052-17.2017.full
SO  - eNeuro2017 Mar 01; 4
AB  - Working memory (WM) entails maintenance and manipulation of information in the absence of sensory input. This study investigated the trajectories and neural basis of these component processes of WM functions in aging. Longitudinal human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data are presented from 136 older individuals (55–80 years) who were scanned at baseline and again 4 years later. We obtained evidence that age-related changes in parietal and frontal components of the WM core network are dissociable in terms of their role in maintenance of perceptual representations and further manipulation of this information, respectively. Individual difference analyses in performance subgroups showed that only prefrontal changes in fMRI activation were accompanied by changes in performance, but parietal brain activity was related to study dropout. We discuss the results in terms of possible neurobiological causes underlying separable aging-related declines in inferior parietal cortex and lateral prefrontal cortex that differentially affect WM functions.