CHANGES IN BRAIN FUNCTIONAL NETWORKS UNDERLYING AGING AND COGNITION

Abstract

With global population aging on the rise, it is increasingly critical to understand the changes that occur in the aging human brain. The use of multiple paradigms and imaging modalities provide a more holistic picture and contribute further insight into our cognitive processes. This thesis thus focuses on investigating how functional brain networks support cognition, particularly in the context of normal aging, using cross-paradigm and cross-modality analyses. To this end, brain activity in healthy young and old adults during resting state, working memory tasks and naturalistic movie-watching were studied. In summary, this thesis demonstrates that functional reconfiguration between rest and task states, inter-subject synchronization of brain responses and brain function-structure relationships change in aging, and are relevant to cognition. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of integrative approaches to revealing novel insights for understanding aging and cognition.