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Reorganisation of Structural and Functional Connectivity in the resting-state Language Network across Lifespan Ageing Trajectories
Poster Session D, Saturday, October 26, 10:30 am - 12:00 pm, Great Hall 3 and 4
Partika Jain1, Azman Akhter1, Arpan Banerjee1; 1National Brain Research Centre
Introduction: Age-related decline is recurrently seen in various cognitive functions like attention, executive functions, memory, and language production, while language comprehension tends to remain intact throughout the lifespan. This phenomenon may reflect the preservation of functional or anatomical connections between the key regions (Pars-T, Pars-O, MTG, STG, and STS) of the Language Network (LAN). Methods: To investigate this hypothesis, we analysed the relationship among Functional Connectivity (FC), Structural Connectivity (SC) and language behaviour (comprehension and production) across the cross-sectional adult lifespan of a large healthy cohort (n = 652, age range = 18:88, CamCAN). Partial correlations, mixed models, and essential non-parametric statistics were employed to control for confounding factors (handedness, age, gender) and non-linearity, respectively. Results: Our analysis revealed a general decline in FC with age, particularly among inter-hemispheric connections of the LAN, while some functional connections were preserved within the right hemisphere. Although the inter-hemispheric SC decreased, SC among MTG, STG, and STS was found to be significantly increasing with age, accompanied by decreased connectivity involving the Pars-T and Pars-O regions. Furthermore, SC among MTG, Pars-T, and Pars-O was significantly associated with language production tasks (verbal fluency and Tip of Tongue), while SC between STS and MTG correlated significantly with language comprehension tasks (vocabulary). Discussion: Our findings suggest that FC reflects the SC to a greater extent, but there is not always a straightforward one-to-one mapping. Language behaviour appears to be more closely related to variations in SC than FC within the LAN, emphasising the importance of preserving certain connections within the LAN for maintaining language comprehension across the lifespan. This study highlights the significance of the conservation of brain function and structure to sustain healthy cognitive abilities throughout one’s life trajectory.
Topic Areas: Language Development/Acquisition, Computational Approaches