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@ARTICLE{Diersch:157760,
author = {Diersch, Nadine and Valdes Herrera, Jose Pedro and
Tempelmann, Claus and Wolbers, Thomas},
title = {{I}ncreased {H}ippocampal {E}xcitability and {A}ltered
{L}earning {D}ynamics {M}ediate {C}ognitive {M}apping
{D}eficits in {H}uman {A}ging.},
journal = {The journal of neuroscience},
volume = {41},
number = {14},
issn = {0270-6474},
address = {Washington, DC},
publisher = {Soc.},
reportid = {DZNE-2021-01217},
pages = {3204-3221},
year = {2021},
note = {ISSN 1529-2401 not unique: **2 hits**.},
abstract = {Learning the spatial layout of a novel environment is
associated with dynamic activity changes in the hippocampus
and in medial parietal areas. With advancing age, the
ability to learn spatial environments deteriorates
substantially but the underlying neural mechanisms are not
well understood. Here, we report findings from a behavioral
and a fMRI experiment where healthy human older and younger
adults of either sex performed a spatial learning task in a
photorealistic virtual environment (VE). We modeled
individual learning states using a Bayesian state-space
model and found that activity in retrosplenial cortex
(RSC)/parieto-occipital sulcus (POS) and anterior
hippocampus did not change systematically as a function
learning in older compared with younger adults across
repeated episodes in the environment. Moreover, effective
connectivity analyses revealed that the age-related learning
deficits were linked to an increase in hippocampal
excitability. Together, these results provide novel insights
into how human aging affects computations in the brain's
navigation system, highlighting the critical role of the
hippocampus.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Key structures of the
brain's navigation circuit are particularly vulnerable to
the deleterious consequences of aging, and declines in
spatial navigation are among the earliest indicators for a
progression from healthy aging to neurodegenerative
diseases. Our study is among the first to provide a
mechanistic account about how physiological changes in the
aging brain affect the formation of spatial knowledge. We
show that neural activity in the aging hippocampus and
medial parietal areas is decoupled from individual learning
states across repeated episodes in a novel spatial
environment. Importantly, we find that increased
excitability of the anterior hippocampus might constitute a
potential neural mechanism for cognitive mapping deficits in
old age.},
keywords = {Adult / Aged / Aging: physiology / Aging: psychology /
Brain Mapping: methods / Cognition: physiology / Female /
Hippocampus: diagnostic imaging / Hippocampus: physiology /
Humans / Magnetic Resonance Imaging: methods / Male / Middle
Aged / Parietal Lobe: diagnostic imaging / Parietal Lobe:
physiology / Psychomotor Performance: physiology / Spatial
Learning: physiology / Spatial Navigation: physiology /
Virtual Reality / Young Adult / aging (Other) / fMRI (Other)
/ learning (Other) / memory (Other) / spatial navigation
(Other) / virtual reality (Other)},
cin = {AG Wolbers},
ddc = {610},
cid = {I:(DE-2719)1310002},
pnm = {353 - Clinical and Health Care Research (POF4-353)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-353},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
pubmed = {pmid:33648956},
pmc = {pmc:PMC8026345},
doi = {10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0528-20.2021},
url = {https://pub.dzne.de/record/157760},
}