Jeehye Seo1,
Seong-Uk Jin1, Hee-Kyung Kim1, Jang Woo Park1,
Moon Han1, Jong Su Baeck1, Yongmin Chang1,
2, Kyung Jin Suh3
1Medical
& Biological Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea; 2Radiology
and Molecular Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea; 3Radiology,
College of Medicine, Dongguk University, Gyeong Ju, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea
A decline in working memory is well documented with increasing age and age-related differences are seen in working memory tasks using functional neuroimaging techniques . The aim of this study is to elucidate age-related effects on functional activation during working memory task through continuous distribution of age. Sixty-eight healthy subjects aged 18 to 70 years old performed an n-back memory task. We found that with increasing age, working memory activation network showed decreased activation, whereas 2-back deactivation network showed increased brain activation. Decreased brain activity has interpreted as a reflection of cognitive deficits in older adults, and increased activity has interpreted as compensatory.