Investigating dynamic brain functional redundancy as a mechanism of cognitive reserve
IntroductionIndividuals with higher cognitive reserve (CR) are thought to be more resilient to the effects of age-related brain changes on cognitive performance. A potential mechanism of CR is redundancy in brain network functional connectivity (BFR), which refers to the amount of time the brain spe...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2025.1535657/full |
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| author | Julia Schwarz Franziska Zistler Adriana Usheva Anika Fix Sebastian Zinn Juliana Zimmermann Franziska Knolle Franziska Knolle Gerhard Schneider Rachel Nuttall |
| author_facet | Julia Schwarz Franziska Zistler Adriana Usheva Anika Fix Sebastian Zinn Juliana Zimmermann Franziska Knolle Franziska Knolle Gerhard Schneider Rachel Nuttall |
| author_sort | Julia Schwarz |
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| description | IntroductionIndividuals with higher cognitive reserve (CR) are thought to be more resilient to the effects of age-related brain changes on cognitive performance. A potential mechanism of CR is redundancy in brain network functional connectivity (BFR), which refers to the amount of time the brain spends in a redundant state, indicating the presence of multiple independent pathways between brain regions. These can serve as back-up information processing routes, providing resiliency in the presence of stress or disease. In this study we aimed to investigate whether BFR modulates the association between age-related brain changes and cognitive performance across a broad range of cognitive domains.MethodsAn open-access neuroimaging and behavioral dataset (n = 301 healthy participants, 18–89 years) was analyzed. Cortical gray matter (GM) volume, cortical thickness and brain age, extracted from structural T1 images, served as our measures of life-course related brain changes (BC). Cognitive scores were extracted from principal component analysis performed on 13 cognitive tests across multiple cognitive domains. Multivariate linear regression tested the modulating effect of BFR on the relationship between age-related brain changes and cognitive performance.ResultsPCA revealed three cognitive test components related to episodic, semantic and executive functioning. Increased BFR predicted reduced performance in episodic functioning when considering cortical thickness and GM volume as measures of BC. BFR significantly modulated the relationship between cortical thickness and episodic functioning. We found neither a predictive nor modulating effect of BFR on semantic or executive performance, nor a significant effect when defining BC via brain age.DiscussionOur results suggest that BFR could serve as a metric of CR when considering certain cognitive domains, specifically episodic functioning, and defined dimensions of BC. These findings potentially indicate the presence of multiple underlying mechanisms of CR. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5a8c063dfefb4aec8d677ebc0058b51c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1663-4365 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj-art-5a8c063dfefb4aec8d677ebc0058b51c2025-02-04T06:31:45ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience1663-43652025-02-011710.3389/fnagi.2025.15356571535657Investigating dynamic brain functional redundancy as a mechanism of cognitive reserveJulia Schwarz0Franziska Zistler1Adriana Usheva2Anika Fix3Sebastian Zinn4Juliana Zimmermann5Franziska Knolle6Franziska Knolle7Gerhard Schneider8Rachel Nuttall9Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, GermanyDepartment of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, GermanyDepartment of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, GermanyDepartment of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, GermanyDepartment of Anesthesiology, Columbia University, New York, NY, United StatesDepartment of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, GermanyDepartment of Neuroradiology, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, GermanyTUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, GermanyDepartment of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, GermanyDepartment of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, GermanyIntroductionIndividuals with higher cognitive reserve (CR) are thought to be more resilient to the effects of age-related brain changes on cognitive performance. A potential mechanism of CR is redundancy in brain network functional connectivity (BFR), which refers to the amount of time the brain spends in a redundant state, indicating the presence of multiple independent pathways between brain regions. These can serve as back-up information processing routes, providing resiliency in the presence of stress or disease. In this study we aimed to investigate whether BFR modulates the association between age-related brain changes and cognitive performance across a broad range of cognitive domains.MethodsAn open-access neuroimaging and behavioral dataset (n = 301 healthy participants, 18–89 years) was analyzed. Cortical gray matter (GM) volume, cortical thickness and brain age, extracted from structural T1 images, served as our measures of life-course related brain changes (BC). Cognitive scores were extracted from principal component analysis performed on 13 cognitive tests across multiple cognitive domains. Multivariate linear regression tested the modulating effect of BFR on the relationship between age-related brain changes and cognitive performance.ResultsPCA revealed three cognitive test components related to episodic, semantic and executive functioning. Increased BFR predicted reduced performance in episodic functioning when considering cortical thickness and GM volume as measures of BC. BFR significantly modulated the relationship between cortical thickness and episodic functioning. We found neither a predictive nor modulating effect of BFR on semantic or executive performance, nor a significant effect when defining BC via brain age.DiscussionOur results suggest that BFR could serve as a metric of CR when considering certain cognitive domains, specifically episodic functioning, and defined dimensions of BC. These findings potentially indicate the presence of multiple underlying mechanisms of CR.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2025.1535657/fullcognitive reservebrain functional redundancyage-related brain changesfunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)dynamic functional connectivity |
| spellingShingle | Julia Schwarz Franziska Zistler Adriana Usheva Anika Fix Sebastian Zinn Juliana Zimmermann Franziska Knolle Franziska Knolle Gerhard Schneider Rachel Nuttall Investigating dynamic brain functional redundancy as a mechanism of cognitive reserve Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience cognitive reserve brain functional redundancy age-related brain changes functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) dynamic functional connectivity |
| title | Investigating dynamic brain functional redundancy as a mechanism of cognitive reserve |
| title_full | Investigating dynamic brain functional redundancy as a mechanism of cognitive reserve |
| title_fullStr | Investigating dynamic brain functional redundancy as a mechanism of cognitive reserve |
| title_full_unstemmed | Investigating dynamic brain functional redundancy as a mechanism of cognitive reserve |
| title_short | Investigating dynamic brain functional redundancy as a mechanism of cognitive reserve |
| title_sort | investigating dynamic brain functional redundancy as a mechanism of cognitive reserve |
| topic | cognitive reserve brain functional redundancy age-related brain changes functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) dynamic functional connectivity |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2025.1535657/full |
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