Examining the unitary factor and multiple factor framework of cognitive aging with covariance analysis of positron emission tomography data

Document Type

Article

Keywords

Alzheimer’s disease, Dementia, Memory, Multivariate analysis, Neuroimaging, Scaled subprofile model

Disciplines

Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

Research has indicated that there may be age-related and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) -related reductions in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in the brain. This study explored differences in age- and AD-related rCBF patterns in the context of cognitive aging using a multivariate approach to the analysis of H 2 15 O PET data. First, an rCBF covariance pattern that distinguishes between a group of younger and older adults was identified. Individual subject’s expression of the identified age-related pattern was significantly correlated with their performance on tests of memory, even after controlling for the effect of age. This finding suggests that subject expression of the covariance pattern explained additional variation in performance on the memory tasks. The age-related covariance pattern was then compared to an AD-related covariance pattern. There was little evidence that the two covariance patterns were similar, and the age-related pattern did a poor job of differentiating between cognitively-healthy older adults and those with probable AD. The findings from this study are consistent with the multifactorial nature of cognitive aging.

Article Number

1099

Publication Date

2009

Link to Full Text
Request Access

Share

COinS