Upregulation of cognitive control networks in older adults’ speech comprehension
Speech comprehension abilities decline with age and with age-related hearing loss, but it is unclear how this decline expresses in terms of central neural mechanisms. The current study examined neural speech processing in a group of older adults (aged 56–77, n=16, with varying degrees of sensorineur...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2013-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnsys.2013.00116/full |
| _version_ | 1811256736803192832 |
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| author | Julia eErb Jonas eObleser |
| author_facet | Julia eErb Jonas eObleser |
| author_sort | Julia eErb |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Speech comprehension abilities decline with age and with age-related hearing loss, but it is unclear how this decline expresses in terms of central neural mechanisms. The current study examined neural speech processing in a group of older adults (aged 56–77, n=16, with varying degrees of sensorineural hearing loss), and compared them to a cohort of young adults (aged 22–31, n=30, self-reported normal hearing). In an fMRI experiment, listeners heard and repeated back degraded sentences (4-band vocoding, which preserves the temporal envelope of the acoustic signal, while substantially degrading spectral information). Behaviourally, older adults adapted to degraded speech at the same rate as young listeners, although their overall comprehension of degraded speech was lower. Neurally, both older and young adults relied on the left anterior insula for degraded more than clear speech perception. However, anterior insula engagement in older adults was dependent on hearing acuity. Young adults additionally employed the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Interestingly, this age group × degradation interaction was driven by a reduced dynamic range in older adults, who displayed elevated levels of ACC activity in both conditions, consistent with a persistent upregulation in cognitive control irrespective of task difficulty. For correct speech comprehension, older adults recruited the middle frontal gyrus in addition to a core speech comprehension network on which young adults relied, suggestive of a compensatory mechanism. Taken together, the results indicate that older adults increasingly recruit cognitive control networks, even under optimal listening conditions, at the expense of these systems’ dynamic range. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T17:45:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-02e2d0a327e347a794d70e5b59115b59 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5137 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T17:45:47Z |
| publishDate | 2013-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-02e2d0a327e347a794d70e5b59115b592022-12-22T03:22:40ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience1662-51372013-12-01710.3389/fnsys.2013.0011665208Upregulation of cognitive control networks in older adults’ speech comprehensionJulia eErb0Jonas eObleser1Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesMax Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesSpeech comprehension abilities decline with age and with age-related hearing loss, but it is unclear how this decline expresses in terms of central neural mechanisms. The current study examined neural speech processing in a group of older adults (aged 56–77, n=16, with varying degrees of sensorineural hearing loss), and compared them to a cohort of young adults (aged 22–31, n=30, self-reported normal hearing). In an fMRI experiment, listeners heard and repeated back degraded sentences (4-band vocoding, which preserves the temporal envelope of the acoustic signal, while substantially degrading spectral information). Behaviourally, older adults adapted to degraded speech at the same rate as young listeners, although their overall comprehension of degraded speech was lower. Neurally, both older and young adults relied on the left anterior insula for degraded more than clear speech perception. However, anterior insula engagement in older adults was dependent on hearing acuity. Young adults additionally employed the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Interestingly, this age group × degradation interaction was driven by a reduced dynamic range in older adults, who displayed elevated levels of ACC activity in both conditions, consistent with a persistent upregulation in cognitive control irrespective of task difficulty. For correct speech comprehension, older adults recruited the middle frontal gyrus in addition to a core speech comprehension network on which young adults relied, suggestive of a compensatory mechanism. Taken together, the results indicate that older adults increasingly recruit cognitive control networks, even under optimal listening conditions, at the expense of these systems’ dynamic range.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnsys.2013.00116/fullAgingexecutive functionsfunctional MRIDegraded SpeechNeural adaptationNoise-vocoding |
| spellingShingle | Julia eErb Jonas eObleser Upregulation of cognitive control networks in older adults’ speech comprehension Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience Aging executive functions functional MRI Degraded Speech Neural adaptation Noise-vocoding |
| title | Upregulation of cognitive control networks in older adults’ speech comprehension |
| title_full | Upregulation of cognitive control networks in older adults’ speech comprehension |
| title_fullStr | Upregulation of cognitive control networks in older adults’ speech comprehension |
| title_full_unstemmed | Upregulation of cognitive control networks in older adults’ speech comprehension |
| title_short | Upregulation of cognitive control networks in older adults’ speech comprehension |
| title_sort | upregulation of cognitive control networks in older adults speech comprehension |
| topic | Aging executive functions functional MRI Degraded Speech Neural adaptation Noise-vocoding |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnsys.2013.00116/full |
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