TITLE:
Neural correlates of focused attention in cognitively normal older adults
AUTHORS:
Jennifer R. Bowes, Patrick Stroman, Angeles Garcia
KEYWORDS:
Fmri; Focused Attention; Stroop
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of Neuroscience,
Vol.1 No.2,
August
31,
2011
ABSTRACT: Focused attention (FA) is among the cognitive functions that decline with aging. The Stroop task was used to investigate the neural correlates underlying FA in cognitively normal older adults. Twenty-one participants underwent a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) verbal Stroop task paradigm. Colour words were printed in an incongruent ink colour. Series 1 consisted of four blocks “Read the word” followed by four blocks “Say the colour of the ink”; Series 2 alternated between the two conditions. Functional data were analyzed using SPM5 to detect anatomical areas with significant signal intensity differences between the conditions. Within-group analyses of the “Say the colour of the ink” minus “Read the word” contrast yielded significant activation in the left supplementary motor area, bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral precentral gyrus, left insula and right superior frontal gyrus (p