Cognitive Science

The latest breakthroughs, innovations, and cool happenings at the cutting edge of the world of cognitive science. Updated daily.

Development of Brain Structural Networks Over Age 8: A Preliminary Study Based on Diffusion Weighted Imaging

Brain structural network changes provide key information about the aging process of the brain. Unfortunately, there has yet to be a detailed characterization of these structural networks across different age groups. Efforts to classify these networks have also been hampered by their reliance on technically limited traditional methods, which are unable to track multiple fiber […]

Published on March 10, 2020

Cognitive Reserve Is Not Associated With Hippocampal Microstructure in Older Adults Without Dementia

Objective: Mean Diffusivity (MD) as measured by diffusion tensor imaging can be used to detect microstructural alterations of the brain’s gray matter (GM). A previous study found that higher education, which is a proxy for cognitive reserve (CR), was related to decreased hippocampal MD in middle-aged healthy adults, indicating decreased microstructural damage in more educated […]

Published on March 10, 2020

Loss of Sensitivity to Rewards by Dopamine Neurons May Underlie Age-Related Increased Probability Discounting

Normative aging is known to affect how decisions are made in risky situations. Although important individual variability exists, on average, aging is accompanied by greater risk aversion. Here the behavioral and neural mechanisms of greater risk aversion were examined in young and old rats trained on an instrumental probability discounting task. Consistent with the literature, […]

Published on March 6, 2020