Cingulo-opercular and frontoparietal control network connectivity and executive functioning in older adults

Abstract

Executive function is a cognitive domain that typically declines in non-pathological aging. Two cognitive control networks that are vulnerable to aging-the cingulo-opercular (CON) and fronto-parietal control (FPCN) networks-play a role in various aspects of executive functioning. However, it is unclear how communication within these networks at rest relates to executive function subcomponents in older adults. This study examines the associations between CON and FPCN connectivity and executive function performance in 274 older adults across working memory, inhibition, and set-shifting tasks. Average CON connectivity was associated with better working memory, inhibition, and set-shifting performance, while average FPCN connectivity was associated solely with working memory. CON region of interest analyses revealed significant connections with classical hub regions (i.e., anterior cingulate and anterior insula) for each task, language regions for verbal working memory, right hemisphere dominance for inhibitory control, and widespread network connections for set-shifting. FPCN region of interest analyses revealed largely right hemisphere fronto-parietal connections important for working memory and a few temporal lobe connections for set-shifting. These findings characterize differential brain-behavior relationships between cognitive control networks and executive function in aging. Future research should target these networks for intervention to potentially attenuate executive function decline in older adults.

Keywords: Cognitive aging; Executive function; Imaging; Resting-state networks.

Fig. 1

FPCN and CON in older adults. Visualization of the regions of interest in the FPCN and CON [54] in our sample of healthy older adults [12] from A anterior and B superior views

Fig. 2

ROI-ROI analyses for working memory measures. Significant ROI-ROI connections related to working memory performance controlling for age, sex, education, and scanner. Each panel provides an overall network map in the top left corner and a connectome ring that depicts the significant connections related to performance on each measure. The color bar represents the range of the T-statistic for each model. Warmer colors indicate positive relationships while cooler colors indicate negative relationships with task performance. An analysis level FDR correction of p < 0.05 was used. Abbreviations: R, right hemisphere; L, left hemisphere; FPCN, frontoparietal control network; CON, cingulo-opercular network; PFC, prefrontal cortex; MedPost, medial posterior; FrOperIns, frontal operculum insula; TempOccPar, temporal occipital parietal

Fig. 3

ROI-ROI analyses for inhibition and set-shifting measures. Significant ROI-ROI connections related to set-shifting and inhibition performance controlling for age, sex, education, and scanner. Each panel provides an overall network map in the top left corner and a connectome ring that depicts the significant connections related to performance on each measure. The color bar represents the range of the T-statistic for each model. Warmer colors indicate positive relationships while cooler colors indicate negative relationships with task performance. The metric for Trail Making Test B is time in seconds it takes to complete the task. Longer time equates to worse performance; therefore, negative correlations (blue) indicate stronger connectivity is related to better performance. An analysis level FDR correction of p < 0.05 was used. Abbreviations: R, right hemisphere; L, left hemisphere; FPCN, frontoparietal control network; CON, cingulo-opercular network; PFC, prefrontal cortex; ParOper, parietal operculum; FrOperIns, frontal operculum insula; TempOccPar, temporal occipital parietal