Uncovering narrative aging: an underlying neural mechanism compensated through spatial constructional ability
Abstract “The narrative” is a complex cognitive process that has sparked a debate on whether its features age through maintenance or decline. To address this question, we attempted to uncover the narrative aging and its underlying neural characteristics with a cross-validation based cognitive neuro-...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Communications Biology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07501-5 |
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| _version_ | 1832585458921504768 |
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| author | Yumeng Li Junying Zhang Xin Li Zhanjun Zhang |
| author_facet | Yumeng Li Junying Zhang Xin Li Zhanjun Zhang |
| author_sort | Yumeng Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract “The narrative” is a complex cognitive process that has sparked a debate on whether its features age through maintenance or decline. To address this question, we attempted to uncover the narrative aging and its underlying neural characteristics with a cross-validation based cognitive neuro-decoding statistical framework. This framework used a total of 740 healthy older participants with completed narrative and extensive neuropsychological tests and MRI scans. The results indicated that narrative comprises macro and micro structures, with the macrostructure involving complex cognitive processes more relevant to aging. For the brain functional basis, brain hub nodes contributing to macrostructure were predominantly found in the angular gyrus and medial frontal lobe, while microstructure hub nodes were located in the supramarginal gyrus and middle cingulate cortex. Moreover, networks enriched by macrostructure included the default mode network and fronto-parietal network, indicating a higher functional gradient compared to the microstructure-enriched dorsal attention network. Additionally, an interesting finding showed that macrostructure increases in spatial contribution with age, suggesting a compensatory interaction where brain regions related to spatial-constructional ability have a greater impact on macrostructure. These results, supported by neural-level validation and multimodal structural MRI, provide detailed insights into the compensatory effect in the narrative aging process. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e0c82911a18548669fd43083aaea229a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2399-3642 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Biology |
| spelling | doaj-art-e0c82911a18548669fd43083aaea229a2025-01-26T12:47:57ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Biology2399-36422025-01-018111510.1038/s42003-025-07501-5Uncovering narrative aging: an underlying neural mechanism compensated through spatial constructional abilityYumeng Li0Junying Zhang1Xin Li2Zhanjun Zhang3State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal UniversityInstitute of Basic Research in Clinical Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical SciencesState Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal UniversityState Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal UniversityAbstract “The narrative” is a complex cognitive process that has sparked a debate on whether its features age through maintenance or decline. To address this question, we attempted to uncover the narrative aging and its underlying neural characteristics with a cross-validation based cognitive neuro-decoding statistical framework. This framework used a total of 740 healthy older participants with completed narrative and extensive neuropsychological tests and MRI scans. The results indicated that narrative comprises macro and micro structures, with the macrostructure involving complex cognitive processes more relevant to aging. For the brain functional basis, brain hub nodes contributing to macrostructure were predominantly found in the angular gyrus and medial frontal lobe, while microstructure hub nodes were located in the supramarginal gyrus and middle cingulate cortex. Moreover, networks enriched by macrostructure included the default mode network and fronto-parietal network, indicating a higher functional gradient compared to the microstructure-enriched dorsal attention network. Additionally, an interesting finding showed that macrostructure increases in spatial contribution with age, suggesting a compensatory interaction where brain regions related to spatial-constructional ability have a greater impact on macrostructure. These results, supported by neural-level validation and multimodal structural MRI, provide detailed insights into the compensatory effect in the narrative aging process.https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07501-5 |
| spellingShingle | Yumeng Li Junying Zhang Xin Li Zhanjun Zhang Uncovering narrative aging: an underlying neural mechanism compensated through spatial constructional ability Communications Biology |
| title | Uncovering narrative aging: an underlying neural mechanism compensated through spatial constructional ability |
| title_full | Uncovering narrative aging: an underlying neural mechanism compensated through spatial constructional ability |
| title_fullStr | Uncovering narrative aging: an underlying neural mechanism compensated through spatial constructional ability |
| title_full_unstemmed | Uncovering narrative aging: an underlying neural mechanism compensated through spatial constructional ability |
| title_short | Uncovering narrative aging: an underlying neural mechanism compensated through spatial constructional ability |
| title_sort | uncovering narrative aging an underlying neural mechanism compensated through spatial constructional ability |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-07501-5 |
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