PSY 384 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Aging Brain, Network Theory
11 Mar 2018
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Document Summary
Making sense of neuroscience research: explaining changes. Proposes that intelligence comes from a distributed and integrated network of neurons in the parietal and frontal areas of the brain. Studies show that, when presented with similar tasks, younger adults exhibit focal, unilateral activity in the left prefrontal region, and older adults exhibit bilateral activity (both left and right prefrontal areas) Research separating cognitive processes found consistent patterns in the brain activity in younger and older adults challenging the conventional view of broader activation as compensation. Bilateral activation in older adults plays a supportive role in older adults" cognitive function. Harold (hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults) Suggests bilaterality is compensatory in older adults with reduced cognitive ability. Crunch (compensation-related utilization of neural circuits hypothesis) Similar to harold but suggests additional mechanisms at work of aging brains over-utilizing other regions in the left hemisphere on demanding tasks before going to the right hemisphere.
