Predicting executive functioning from functional brain connectivity: network specificity and age effects

Cerebral Cortex, vol. 33, pp. 6495–6507

Abstract

Healthy aging is associated with altered executive functioning (EF). Earlier studies found age-related differences in EF performance to be partially accounted for by changes in resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) within brain networks associated with EF. However, it remains unclear which role RSFC in EF-associated networks plays as a marker for individual differences in EF performance. Here, we investigated to what degree individual abilities across 3 different EF tasks can be predicted from RSFC within EF-related, perceptuo-motor, whole-brain, and random networks separately in young and old adults. Specifically, we were interested if (i) young and old adults differ in predictability depending on network or EF demand level (high vs. low), (ii) an EF-related network outperforms EF-unspecific networks when predicting EF abilities, and (iii) this pattern changes with demand level. Both our uni- and multivariate analysis frameworks analyzing interactions between age × demand level × networks revealed overall low prediction accuracies and a general lack of specificity regarding neurobiological networks for predicting EF abilities. This questions the idea of finding markers for individual EF performance in RSFC patterns and calls for future research replicating the current approach in different task states, brain modalities, different, larger samples, and with more comprehensive behavioral measures.

Authors 7

1. Marisa K. Heckner corresponding

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

   Affiliation as printed

   Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, , 40225 Düsseldorf , Germany

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour) , Research Centre Jülich, 52425 Jülich , Germany

2. Edna C. Cieslik

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

   Affiliation as printed

   Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, , 40225 Düsseldorf , Germany

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour) , Research Centre Jülich, 52425 Jülich , Germany

3. Kaustubh R. Patil

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

   Affiliation as printed

   Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, , 40225 Düsseldorf , Germany

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour) , Research Centre Jülich, 52425 Jülich , Germany

4. Martin Gell Aachen Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics Medical Faculty

   RWTH Aachen University · Forschungszentrum Jülich

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour) , Research Centre Jülich, 52425 Jülich , Germany

   RWTH Aachen University Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, , 52074 Aachen , Germany

   Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany

5. Simon Bodo Eickhoff

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

   Affiliation as printed

   Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, , 40225 Düsseldorf , Germany

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour) , Research Centre Jülich, 52425 Jülich , Germany

6. Felix Hoffstädter

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

   Affiliation as printed

   Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, , 40225 Düsseldorf , Germany

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour) , Research Centre Jülich, 52425 Jülich , Germany

7. Robert Langner

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

   Affiliation as printed

   Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, , 40225 Düsseldorf , Germany

   Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour) , Research Centre Jülich, 52425 Jülich , Germany