Age-related changes in neural activation during working memory performance

Changes in frontal lobe functions are a typical part of aging of the brain. There are age-related declines in working memory performance, a skill requ iring frontal lobe activation. This study examined neural activation, using [O-15] water positron emission tomography (PET) methodology, during perfor mance on two verbal working memory tasks in younger and older participants. The results demonstrated the typical areas of activation associated with w orking memory performance (e.g., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and inferio r parietal cortex) in both groups. However, the younger participants utiliz ed the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate gyrus si gnificantly more than the order participants. In turn, the older participan ts used the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex significantly more than the younger participants and maintained material-specific lateralization in th eir pattern of activation. These findings are consistent with a previous re port of different age-related patterns of frontal activation during working memory.