Neurophysiological correlates of age-related changes in working memory capacity

Cognitive abilities such as working memory (WM) capacity decrease with age. To determine the neurophysiological correlates of age-related reduction in working memory capacity, we studied 10 young subjects (55 years of age; mean age=59) with whole brain blood oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) fMRI on a 1.5 T GE MR scanner using a SPIRAL FLASH pulse sequence (TE=24 ms, TR=56 ms, FA=60 degrees , voxel dimensions=3.75 mm(3)). Subjects performed a modified version of the "n" back working memory task at different levels of increasing working memory load (1-Back, 2-Back and 3-Back). Older subjects performed as well as the younger subjects at 1-Back (p=0.4), but performed worse than the younger subjects at 2-Back (p