Momentary autonomic engagement during parent-adolescent conflict: Coping as a moderator of associations with emotions.

Regulatory efforts are hypothesized to affect associations between emotions and physiology (i.e., concordance) to facilitate adaptive functioning. Assessing the role of coping on physiological-emotional concordance during ecologically relevant scenarios can elucidate whether concordance can serve as a biomarker of risk or resilience. The present study assessed self-reported coping as a moderator of minute-to-minute associations between autonomic nervous system activity and emotions (i.e., physiological-emotional concordance) in caregivers (N = 97) and adolescents (N = 97; ages 10-15) during a dyadic conflict task. Models included physiological variables (sympathetic, skin conductance level [SCL]; and parasympathetic, respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) and their interaction (SCL × RSA) as predictors of emotions, with coping variables as moderators. Caregivers' use of primary control coping (e.g., problem solving and emotional expression) and secondary control coping (e.g., cognitive reappraisal and acceptance) use in response to family stress predicted more positive emotional experiences during the laboratory conflict task. Adolescents' use of secondary control coping moderated the SCL-emotion association, such that increases in momentary SCL were associated with more positive emotion ratings for youth reporting higher secondary control coping. For youth who report more adaptive trait-level coping skills, momentary changes in SCL may reflect active engagement and attentiveness to facilitate more positive emotional experiences. Findings advance our understanding of the interrelationships between physiological responses and psychological experiences during relevant, interactive scenarios. Autonomic responses are differentially related to affective states depending on the coping strategies that adolescents employ, suggesting that concordance may be associated with intervention targets (i.e., coping skills).

Physiology and emotions: Within individual associations during caregiver-adolescent conflict.

Concordance between physiological and emotional responses is central to models of emotion and has been shown to correspond to effective responses and well-being in adults. A deeper understanding of physiological-emotional concordance during ecologically relevant scenarios is essential to then determine if these associations predict mental health problems or can serve as a helpful biomarker of risk or resilience in adults and youth. The present study assessed the minute-to-minute associations between sympathetic (i.e., skin conductance level [SCL]) and parasympathetic (i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) nervous system activity and self-reported emotions, assessed via video-mediated recall procedures, during a parent-adolescent conflict discussion task. Associations between emotion ratings and physiological activity were assessed in adolescents (N = 97; ages 10-15) and their adult caregivers (N = 97). Utilizing a multilevel modeling approach, findings demonstrated a significant positive association between SCL and emotion ratings for youth, suggesting that increased engagement and alertness contributed to more positive emotion. RSA was unrelated to emotion ratings. The presence of significant variability in associations indicated the presence of potential moderators. This could include clinically relevant processes (e.g., emotion regulation, relationship quality, and mental health). Future research should continue to build on findings to determine if, when, and for whom, physiological-emotional concordance occurs, and whether the degree of concordance predicts risk for mental and physical health problems.

Parental drug use disorders and youth psychopathology: Meta-analytic review.

Parental drug use disorders (PDUDs) represent a highly prevalent risk factor for youth's development of psychological and substance misuse. However, most research on associations between parental substance use and child mental health focuses on composites of parental drug, alcohol, and tobacco use. PDUDs are associated with a range of legal, health, and environmental risks that make them substantially distinct from tobacco and alcohol misuse, yet associations between PDUDs and youth psychopathology symptoms have yet to be assessed quantitatively using meta-analytic techniques. Accordingly, the present meta-analysis assessed the association between PDUDs and youth's internalizing, externalizing, substance use, and total psychological problems across 30 studies (N = 8433). Meta-analytic findings showed that PDUDs were associated with greater substance use and total psychological problems in youth. Across studies, PDUDs were not associated with broad dimensions of youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms but demonstrated a positive relation with youth ADHD and conduct disorder symptoms. There were significant moderation effects for study quality, symptom informant, and child age, where the association between PDUDs and child symptoms of psychopathology was stronger for older youth, in higher quality studies, and studies using joint parent-child symptom informants. Taken together, the meta-analytic findings suggest that PDUDs present a significant risk factor for youth. Future research targeting the relation between parental drug use and youth psychopathology is warranted for prevention and intervention efforts. Implication of findings, mechanisms of interest, and an agenda for future research are discussed.

Mean-level correspondence and moment-to-moment synchrony in adolescent and parent affect: Exploring associations with adolescent age and internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Interactions with parents are integral in shaping the development of children's emotional processes. Important aspects of these interactions are overall (mean level) affective experience and affective synchrony (linkages between parent and child affect across time). Respectively, mean-level affect and affective synchrony reflect aspects of the content and structure of dyadic interactions. Most research on parent-child affect during dyadic interactions has focused on infancy and early childhood; adolescence, however, is a key period for both normative emotional development and the emergence of emotional disorders. We examined affect in early to mid-adolescents (N = 55, Mage = 12.27) and their parents using a video-mediated recall task of 10-min conflict-topic discussions. Using multilevel modeling, we found evidence of significant level-2 effects (mean affect) and level-1 effects (affective synchrony) for parents and their adolescents. Level-2 and level-1 associations were differentially moderated by adolescent age and adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms. More specifically, parent-adolescent synchrony was stronger when adolescents were older and had more internalizing problems. Further, more positive adolescent mean affect was associated with more positive parent affect (and vice versa), but only for dyads with low adolescent externalizing problems. Results underscore the importance of additional research examining parent-child affect in adolescence.

Autonomic nervous system correlates of posttraumatic stress symptoms in youth: Meta-analysis and qualitative review.

Physiological dysregulation is a key diagnostic criterion for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While PTSD is defined by trauma exposure, symptom presentations are varied. Similarly, findings of autonomic nervous system (ANS), including parasympathetic (PNS) and sympathetic nervous system (SNS), function in youth exposed to trauma are mixed (e.g., hyporeactivity and hyperreactivity). The present meta-analysis quantitatively assesses the relation between ANS measures broadly, and PNS- and SNS-specific measures, and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in youth (ages 4.98 to 19.55 years) across 38 cross-sectional and longitudinal studies (N = 3488). Findings demonstrate that heightened ANS activity is related to increased PTSS during stress tasks (r = 0.07), while decreased SNS activity at rest corresponded to increased PTSS (r = -0.09). The correlation between PNS measures and PTSS was non-significant. The moderation effect of age on the relation between PNS activity measured during stress tasks and PTSS approached significance, such that younger children showed a stronger negative relation between symptoms and PNS activity compared to older youth. Qualitative review of included studies revealed significant variability across sample and stressor characteristics and study methodology. Findings indicate the importance of autonomic dysregulation in youth with PTSS. Additional considerations for future research are discussed.

Adverse childhood experiences, parenting, and socioeconomic status: Associations with internalizing and externalizing symptoms in adolescence.

BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), low socioeconomic status (SES), and harsh parenting practices each represent well-established risk factors for mental health problems. However, research supporting these links has often focused on only one of these predictors and psychopathology, and interactions among these variables in association with symptoms are not well understood. OBJECTIVE: The current study utilized a cross-sectional, multi-informant, and multi-method design to investigate the associations of ACEs, SES, parenting, and concurrent internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescents. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Data are from a volunteer sample of 97 adolescents and their caregivers recruited from 2018 to 2021 in a southern U.S. metropolitan area to sample a range of exposure to ACEs. METHODS: Multiple linear regression models were used to assess associations among adolescents' ACEs exposure, SES, observed parenting practices, and symptoms of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. RESULTS: Lower SES was associated with higher levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms, while higher ACEs exposure and observed parenting were related to externalizing but not internalizing symptoms. Associations of adolescents' exposure to physical abuse and perceived financial insecurity with externalizing symptoms were moderated by warm and supportive parenting behaviors. Conversely, harsh parenting was linked to increased levels of externalizing symptoms, particularly in the context of low income. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that the presence of multiple risk factors may incur greater vulnerability to externalizing problems, while warm and supportive parenting practices may provide a buffer against externalizing problems for adolescents exposed to physical abuse. Links between ACEs, SES, parenting, and youth adjustment should continue to be explored, highlighting parenting as a potentially important and malleable intervention target.

Working memory training in pediatric brain tumor survivors after recent diagnosis: Challenges and initial effects.

Research shows promise for cognitive interventions for children diagnosed with brain tumors. Interventions have been delivered approximately 5 years postdiagnosis on average, yet recent evidence shows cognitive deficits may appear near diagnosis. The present study assessed the feasibility and initial effects of working memory training in children with brain tumors delivered soon after diagnosis and followed 2 years postdiagnosis. Children completed baseline assessments 10 months postdiagnosis and were randomized to complete adaptive or nonadaptive (i.e., control) Cogmed Working Memory Training. Children were administered the WISC-IV Working Memory Index (WMI) and NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery (NTCB), and parents completed attentional and executive function measures at four time points. On average, participants completed half of prescribed Cogmed sessions. Retention for the three follow-up assessments proved difficult. For both Cogmed groups, WMI and NTCB scores significantly improved immediately postintervention compared to baseline scores. Significant differences were not maintained at the remaining follow-ups. There was preliminary evidence for improved executive function at the final follow-up on parent-reported measures. Working memory training closer to diagnosis proved difficult, though results suggest evidence of cognitive improvement. Future studies should continue to examine potentially efficacious interventions for children with brain tumors and optimal delivery windows to maximize impact.

Preliminary Study of Coping, Perceived Control, and Depressive Symptoms in Youth with Sickle Cell Anemia.

OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this study was to test perceived controllability of stressors as a moderator of the association between coping and depressive symptoms in children and adolescents with sickle cell anemia (SCA). METHOD: Twenty-eight children and adolescents (Mage = 11.71, SD = 4.31; 60.7% female) with SCA were enrolled. Caregivers provided reports of child and adolescent coping using the Response to Stress Questionnaire (RSQ), perceived control of stressors using the RSQ, and depressive symptoms using the Child Behavior Checklist. Children and adolescents also completed Wechsler assessments of working memory and verbal comprehension. RESULTS: Secondary control coping (i.e., cognitive reappraisal, positive thinking, acceptance, and distraction) was a significant predictor of depressive symptoms such that greater use of secondary control coping was related to fewer reported depressive symptoms when accounting for perceived control of stress and neurocognitive variables. Furthermore, perceived control of peer-related stress was a significant moderator of the association between secondary control coping and depressive symptoms such that there was a significant negative association of secondary control coping with depressive symptoms only for low perceived control. CONCLUSION: Secondary control coping may be particularly helpful for reducing depressive symptoms when adolescents' peer-related stressors are perceived as uncontrollable. Interventions to reduce internalizing problems in this population should consider teaching children and adolescents secondary control coping skills in addition to skills in identifying uncontrollable sources of stress.

Cerebral Hemodynamics and Executive Function in Sickle Cell Anemia.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Individuals with sickle cell anemia experience cognitive deficits, even in the absence of cerebral infarcts or strokes. This study tested the hypothesis that elevated cerebral blood flow and oxygen extraction fraction are associated with lower executive function in individuals with sickle cell anemia. METHODS: Three-Tesla brain magnetic resonance imaging was performed, including anatomic, gray matter cerebral blood flow, and global oxygen extraction fraction imaging. Executive function was measured using the working memory index from an age-appropriate Wechsler battery and tasks from the National Institutes of Health Toolbox Cognition Battery. Bivariate and multivariate models were examined (significance: P<0.05). RESULTS: Fifty-four participants (age range=6-31 years) with sickle cell anemia were enrolled. Hematocrit was positively related to fluid cognition, cerebral blood flow was inversely related to working memory and inhibitory control, and oxygen extraction fraction was inversely related to processing speed. Associations remained significant in multivariate analyses controlling for age, income, and infarcts. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated cerebral blood flow and oxygen extraction fraction, markers of hemodynamic impairment, are associated with deficits in executive function in individuals with sickle cell anemia.

Neural correlates of distraction and reappraisal in the family context: Associations with symptoms of anxiety and depression in youth.

Objective: Youth coping is consistently associated with risk and resilience for youth internalizing psychopathology. Integrating questionnaire and experimental methods is an important next step in understanding how youth develop, learn, and implement these skills and to identify possible neurobiological mechanisms that underlie these processes. The current study aims to explore associations among youth self-reported and laboratory-based measures of two methods of coping (distraction and reappraisal). Further, the current study aims to examine associations among neural correlates of distraction and reappraisal with symptoms of anxiety and depression in youth.Methods: Youth (N = 69; M = 12.24, SD = 1.83; 52.9% female) completed self-report measures of secondary control coping (RSQ) and symptoms of anxiety (SCARED) and depression (CES-D) and a laboratory coping task. While completing the task, prefrontal hemodynamic changes were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).Results: Neural activation during reappraisal was significantly negatively correlated with youth anxiety symptoms, and both neural activation and self-reported coping were significant independent predictors of anxiety. Youth self-reported coping was not associated with neural activation during reappraisal or distraction.Conclusions: The measurement of possible neural markers of risk and resilience in youth is an important area of continued research. Identification of possible mechanisms of change related to anxiety and depression in youth may inform targets of intervention.

Predictors of cognitive function in pediatric brain tumor patients: Pre-surgery through 24-month follow-up.

The aim of this study was to examine the feasibility of cognitive assessment from pre-surgery through 2-year follow-up in a sample of pediatric brain tumor (BT) patients. We sought to investigate cognitive function over the course of diagnosis and treatment, and as a function of presenting problems, tumor location, treatment type, and tumor severity. Using a prospective, longitudinal design, standardized IQ measures were administered to pediatric BT patients (ages 6-16) prior to surgery (n = 25), 6 months post-diagnosis (n = 24), and 24 months post-diagnosis (n = 23). Group differences emerged based on tumor severity and treatment type at multiple time points, including prior to surgical intervention; children with high grade tumors performed more poorly than children with low grade tumors, and children receiving surgery plus adjuvant therapy performed more poorly than children who received surgery only. When considered together, an analysis of covariance demonstrated that tumor grade significantly accounted for variability in cognitive functioning, while treatment type did not. Although there is overlap clinically between tumor severity and treatment received, results suggest that tumor severity is an important factor contributing to variability in cognitive functioning and should also be considered when monitoring risk for cognitive deficits in children diagnosed with BT.

Cognitive and Attentional Function in Children with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: A Pilot Study.

While survival for children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) has improved, compromised cardiac output and oxygen delivery persist, and children show cognitive deficits. Most research has assessed young children on broad cognitive indices; less is known about specific indices in older youth. In this pilot study, cognitive function and attention in youth ages 8 to 16 years with HLHS (n = 20) was assessed with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fifth Edition (WISC-V) and NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (NTCB); parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist. Children scored significantly lower than normative means on the WISC-V Full Scale IQ, Verbal Comprehension, Visual Spatial, Working Memory, and Processing Speed indices, and the NTCB Fluid Cognition Composite; effect sizes ranged from medium to large. Attention problems had a large significant effect. Child age corresponded to lower visual spatial scores. Findings highlight the importance of assessing multiple cognitive indices for targeted intervention and investigating age and disease factors as potential correlates in larger samples.

Correlates of Cognitive Function in Sickle Cell Disease: A Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To provide a comprehensive quantitative review of biological, environmental, and behavioral correlates across domains of cognitive function in sickle cell disease (SCD). METHODS: Forty-seven studies were identified in PubMed, MedLine, and PsycINFO involving 2573 participants with SCD. RESULTS: Meta-analytic findings across all identified samples indicate that hemoglobin and hematocrit were positively correlated with Full Scale IQ [FSIQ; r = .15, 95% confidence interval (CI) = .10 to .21], language and verbal reasoning (r = .18, 95% CI = .11 to .24), and executive function (r = .10, 95% CI = .01 to .19) with small effects and significant heterogeneity. Transcranial Doppler velocity was negatively associated with visual spatial and perceptual reasoning (r = -.18, 95% CI = -.31 to -.05). Socioeconomic status was positively associated with FSIQ (r = .23, 95% CI = .17 to .28), language and verbal reasoning (r = .28, 95% CI = .09 to .45), visual spatial and perceptual reasoning (r = .26, 95% CI = .09 to .41), and executive function (r = .18, 95% CI = .07 to .28) with small to medium effects. Finally, total behavioral problems were negatively associated with FSIQ (r = -.12, 95% CI = -.21 to -.02) such that participants with lower FSIQ exhibited greater behavioral and emotional problems. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide evidence for biological, environmental, and psychosocial corelates across multiple domains of cognitive function in SCD. More research on more specific cognitive domains and psychosocial correlates is needed in addition to assessments of interactional models among risk factors.

Predictors of placement disruptions in foster care.

BACKGROUND: Many children who are removed from a dangerous or neglectful home and placed in state custody subsequently experience additional disruptions while in custody, which can compound the effects of ongoing stress and instability. As such, placement stability has been identified as a critical objective and a key indicator of success for children residing in substitutive care. OBJECTIVE: To examine the utility of child protective services data in identifying predictors of placement disruption. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The current study examined data from youth in Tennessee state custody who had been assessed using the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) assessment within 30-days of their first, out-of-home placement. The sample included 8,853 youth ages 5-19 years old (M = 13.1; SD = 4.0; 44.8 % female). METHODS: Demographics, placement information, and the CANS assessment were collected by the Tennessee Department of Children's Services for all child welfare episodes for children as part of the system's usual standard of care. Bivariate correlation and linear regression models were conducted. RESULTS: Multiple risk indices from the CANS appeared to significantly increase risk of placement disruption, including child internalizing and externalizing symptoms, school difficulties, youth affect dysregulation, and child age. CONCLUSIONS: The current findings suggest that data collected as part of standard practice by child welfare workers such as the CANS is both feasible and has utility for identifying sources of risk for placement disruptions and to inform possible targets of intervention to enhance placement stability.

Response-level processing during visual feature search: Effects of frontoparietal activation and adult age.

Previous research suggests that feature search performance is relatively resistant to age-related decline. However, little is known regarding the neural mechanisms underlying the age-related constancy of feature search. In this experiment, we used a diffusion decision model of reaction time (RT), and event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate age-related differences in response-level processing during visual feature search. Participants were 80 healthy, right-handed, community-dwelling individuals, 19-79 years of age. Analyses of search performance indicated that targets accompanied by response-incompatible distractors were associated with a significant increase in the nondecision-time (t0) model parameter, possibly reflecting the additional time required for response execution. Nondecision time increased significantly with increasing age, but no age-related effects were evident in drift rate, cautiousness (boundary separation, a), or in the specific effects of response compatibility. Nondecision time was also associated with a pattern of activation and deactivation in frontoparietal regions. The relation of age to nondecision time was indirect, mediated by this pattern of frontoparietal activation and deactivation. Response-compatible and -incompatible trials were associated with specific patterns of activation in the medial and superior parietal cortex, and frontal eye field, but these activation effects did not mediate the relation between age and search performance. These findings suggest that, in the context of a highly efficient feature search task, the age-related influence of frontoparietal activation is operative at a relatively general level, which is common to the task conditions, rather than at the response level specifically.

Cognitive Function in Pediatric Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Despite surgical palliation, children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) have compromised cardiac functioning and increased risk for cognitive deficits. We quantitatively reviewed the empirical data from this literature. METHODS: The present meta-analysis included 13 studies reporting cognitive function for children with HLHS between the ages of 2 years and 6 months and 17 years that used standardized assessments of Full Scale IQ (FSIQ), Verbal IQ (VIQ), and Performance IQ (PIQ). Differences in cognitive function were assessed relative to normative data, and we examined sample mean age and publication year as moderators. RESULTS: Large effects were found for FSIQ (g = -.87, 95% CI [-1.10, -.65], M = 86.88) and PIQ (g = -.89, 95% CI [-1.11, -.68], M = 86.56), and a medium effect was found for VIQ (g = -.61, 95% CI [-.84, -.38], M = 90.82). All models demonstrated significant heterogeneity. Meta-regression analyses of effect size via Hedges' g on child age revealed a significant effect on FSIQ (coefficient = -.07, 95% CI [-.12, -.01], p < .01, R2 = .40) indicating a loss of 1.1 FSIQ points across studies with each increased year of mean sample age. CONCLUSIONS: Deficits in FSIQ may reflect chronic brain injury or failure to make expected gains as children age. This review highlights the importance of early intervention in this population, and the need for longitudinal studies analyzing more specific domains of cognitive function and potential moderators.

Functional modular architecture underlying attentional control in aging.

Previous research suggests that age-related differences in attention reflect the interaction of top-down and bottom-up processes, but the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying this interaction remain an active area of research. Here, within a sample of community-dwelling adults 19-78 years of age, we used diffusion reaction time (RT) modeling and multivariate functional connectivity to investigate the behavioral components and whole-brain functional networks, respectively, underlying bottom-up and top-down attentional processes during conjunction visual search. During functional MRI scanning, participants completed a conjunction visual search task in which each display contained one item that was larger than the other items (i.e., a size singleton) but was not informative regarding target identity. This design allowed us to examine in the RT components and functional network measures the influence of (a) additional bottom-up guidance when the target served as the size singleton, relative to when the distractor served as the size singleton (i.e., size singleton effect) and (b) top-down processes during target detection (i.e., target detection effect; target present vs. absent trials). We found that the size singleton effect (i.e., increased bottom-up guidance) was associated with RT components related to decision and nondecision processes, but these effects did not vary with age. Also, a modularity analysis revealed that frontoparietal module connectivity was important for both the size singleton and target detection effects, but this module became central to the networks through different mechanisms for each effect. Lastly, participants 42 years of age and older, in service of the target detection effect, relied more on between-frontoparietal module connections. Our results further elucidate mechanisms through which frontoparietal regions support attentional control and how these mechanisms vary in relation to adult age.

Task difficulty modulates brain activation in the emotional oddball task.

Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have reported that task-irrelevant, emotionally salient events can disrupt target discrimination, particularly when attentional demands are low, while others demonstrate alterations in the distracting effects of emotion in behavior and neural activation in the context of attention-demanding tasks. We used fMRI, in conjunction with an emotional oddball task, at different levels of target discrimination difficulty, to investigate the effects of emotional distractors on the detection of subsequent targets. In addition, we distinguished different behavioral components of target detection representing decisional, nondecisional, and response criterion processes. Results indicated that increasing target discrimination difficulty led to increased time required for both the decisional and nondecisional components of the detection response, as well as to increased target-related neural activation in frontoparietal regions. The emotional distractors were associated with activation in ventral occipital and frontal regions and dorsal frontal regions, but this activation was attenuated with increased difficulty. Emotional distraction did not alter the behavioral measures of target detection, but did lead to increased target-related frontoparietal activation for targets following emotional images as compared to those following neutral images. This latter effect varied with target discrimination difficulty, with an increased influence of the emotional distractors on subsequent target-related frontoparietal activation in the more difficult discrimination condition. This influence of emotional distraction was in addition associated specifically with the decisional component of target detection. These findings indicate that emotion-cognition interactions, in the emotional oddball task, vary depending on the difficulty of the target discrimination and the associated limitations on processing resources.

Sources of disconnection in neurocognitive aging: cerebral white-matter integrity, resting-state functional connectivity, and white-matter hyperintensity volume.

Age-related decline in fluid cognition can be characterized as a disconnection among specific brain structures, leading to a decline in functional efficiency. The potential sources of disconnection, however, are unclear. We investigated imaging measures of cerebral white-matter integrity, resting-state functional connectivity, and white-matter hyperintensity volume as mediators of the relation between age and fluid cognition, in 145 healthy, community-dwelling adults 19-79 years of age. At a general level of analysis, with a single composite measure of fluid cognition and single measures of each of the 3 imaging modalities, age exhibited an independent influence on the cognitive and imaging measures, and the imaging variables did not mediate the age-cognition relation. At a more specific level of analysis, resting-state functional connectivity of sensorimotor networks was a significant mediator of the age-related decline in executive function. These findings suggest that different levels of analysis lead to different models of neurocognitive disconnection, and that resting-state functional connectivity, in particular, may contribute to age-related decline in executive function.

Frontoparietal activation during visual conjunction search: Effects of bottom-up guidance and adult age.

We conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with a visual search paradigm to test the hypothesis that aging is associated with increased frontoparietal involvement in both target detection and bottom-up attentional guidance (featural salience). Participants were 68 healthy adults, distributed continuously across 19 to 78 years of age. Frontoparietal regions of interest (ROIs) were defined from resting-state scans obtained prior to task-related fMRI. The search target was defined by a conjunction of color and orientation. Each display contained one item that was larger than the others (i.e., a size singleton) but was not informative regarding target identity. Analyses of search reaction time (RT) indicated that bottom-up attentional guidance from the size singleton (when coincident with the target) was relatively constant as a function of age. Frontoparietal fMRI activation related to target detection was constant as a function of age, as was the reduction in activation associated with salient targets. However, for individuals 35 years of age and older, engagement of the left frontal eye field (FEF) in bottom-up guidance was more prominent than for younger individuals. Further, the age-related differences in left FEF activation were a consequence of decreasing resting-state functional connectivity in visual sensory regions. These findings indicate that age-related compensatory effects may be expressed in the relation between activation and behavior, rather than in the magnitude of activation, and that relevant changes in the activation-RT relation may begin at a relatively early point in adulthood. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2128-2149, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.