Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Our population is growing older. By 2030 1 in 5 Canadians will be aged 65 or over; this rise results in heavy costs to the health care system and to caretakers. While this is partly due to an increase in the prevalence of dementia with age, healthy aging is also known to cause cognitive declines in working memory, processing speed, and attention, which impact the health and quality of life of the elderly. At the center of these declines is the frontal lobe. Studies have found that of all brain regions the frontal lobe is most affected by the aging process; frontal lobe white matter, which contains the axons necessary for neuronal communication, experiences a disproportionately greater loss of integrity compared to white matter in other lobes. Despite these findings, no study has examined how discrete changes in frontal lobe connectivity correspond to changes in cognitive ability. Our group was the first to develop imaging methods to study frontal lobe white matter in more detail by measuring structural changes in frontal white matter subregions related to cognitive performance. The proposed study will use diffusion tensor imaging to measure various white matter tracts of the frontal lobe in participants across the lifespan (18-85). Age related changes will be compared to cognitive test scores for tasks that correspond to that frontal lobe area. This study will help us better understand the effects of healthy aging on the human brain, both in terms of structural and cognitive changes. By characterizing healthy brain changes and the corresponding cognitive declines with age, scientists will better understand how the functions of the frontal lobes change with age, and better diagnose and treat age-related brain disorders.