[R01] Attentional Resilience in Older Adults
Ente: National Institute on Aging
Scadenza: 2029-04-30
Importo max: 760.109 EUR
Paese: US
Descrizione
In delirium and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which increase the risk for each other, patients suffer deficits in
executive functions, including attentional control. There is a critical gap in our understanding of the mecha-
nisms by which attentional control capacity may promote cognitive resilience in both delirium and dementia.
Even under normal conditions neural resources for navigating the world around us are fundamentally limited
(ie, we can’t attend to everything in our environment), yet attentional control allows the brain to effectively allocate
neural resources to accomplish cognitive tasks. During stressors that limit neural resources further, eg neuro-
inflammation after surgery or AD-related neurodegeneration, attentional control can compensate for neuronal
injury to preserve cognitive function by marshaling remaining neural resources. Given the potential protective
benefits of robust attentional control, this proposal introduces attentional resilience—ie the ability to retain
robust attentional control despite physiological stressors—and evaluates its potential underlying neural mecha-
nisms using the stressor of scheduled surgery in cognitively healthy older adults as a “natural experiment.”
Our overall objective is to better understand the neural mechanisms underlying attentional resilience, which
enable individuals to more effectively allocate neural resources to remain attentive to their surrounding environ-
ment despite neuronal injury and/or neuro-inflammation. Our central hypothesis is that neural mechanisms
underlying robust attentional control before surgery facilitate attentional resilience after surgery. Our aims eval-
uate neural activity patterns that have been linked to robust attentional control. Given the well-established link
between electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha (7-13 Hz) power and attentional control, Aim 1 focuses on the ability
of attentional control processes to enable attentiveness by attenuating alpha power. In Aim 2, we explore alpha-
driven enhancement of sensory processing, an attentional control mechanism that amplifies neural responses
to relevant sensory stimuli. These attentional control processes facilitate externally directed attention, and we
will evaluate how their mechanisms relate to attentional resilience. Building on this, Aim 3 explores neural circuit
contributors to these attentional control processes as possible mechanisms underlying attentional resilience.
Because robust neural circuits depend on healthy neuronal substrates largely free from AD-related pathology,
we will evaluate the effect of tau pathology on attentional resilience mediated by coordination of the dorsal at-
tention network and the default mode network, two complementary neural circuits critical for attentional control.
In sum, this project will advance understanding of why some older adults maintain strong attentional perfor-
mance after surgery while others do not. In particular, this work will reveal key neural-systems
Istituzione: DUKE UNIVERSITY
PI: Leah Acker
Progetto: 5R01AG088329-03
Settori: National Institute on Aging
Vai al bando originale
Registrati gratis su Bandolo per trovare bandi compatibili con la tua azienda.