2022/09/20 by Fanlu Jia, Chun Yin Liu, Li Hai Tan +1
Neuroscience · #Functional Brain Connectivity Studies #Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies #Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
paper · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhac374
openalex publication_date 2022/09/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02
Human learning and cognitive functions change with age and experience, with late-developed complex cognitive functions, particularly those served by the prefrontal cortex, showing more age-dependent variance. Reading as a complex process of constructing meaning from print uses the left prefrontal cortex and may show a similar aging pattern. In this study, we delineated the lifespan developmental changes in the neural substrates and functional connectivity for visual semantic processing from childhood (age 6) to late adulthood (age 74). Different from previous studies that reported aging as a form of activation or neuronal changes, we examined additionally how the functional connectivity networks changed with age. A cohort of 122 Chinese participants performed semantic and font-size judgment tasks during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Although a common left-lateralized neural system including the left mid-inferior prefrontal cortex was recruited across all participants, the effect of age, or reading experience, is evident as 2 contrastive developmental patterns: a declining trend in activation strength and extent and an increasing trend in functional connections of the network. This study suggests that visual semantic processing is not prone to cognitive decline, and that continuous reading until old age helps strengthen the functional connections of reading-related brain regions.