Scaffolding is a normal process that exists across the lifespan and involves the use and development of complementary, alternative neural circuits to achieve a particular cognitive goal. Though introduced in the context of the preservation of cognitive abilities in aging, many of these phenomena also characterize the neurofunctional reorganization that sustains recovery after a brain
lesion (e.g. Marcotte et al., 2012), as well PD-332991 as the brain’s ability to cope with increasing complexity (Ansado et al., 2012, 2013). This convergence of phenomena could indicate that the mechanisms engaged to sustain cognitive abilities in aging are only one specific exemplar of more general neurofunctional mechanisms. Human communication relies on a set of linguistic abilities that themselves rely on an array of basic cognitive abilities that are widely spread over many areas of both hemispheres (Gernsbacher & Kaschak, 2003). As such, language abilities undoubtedly depend on a large array of neural networks that are broadly distributed selleck compound over the whole brain. At the same time, language abilities are among those that are best preserved in normal aging (Schaie & Willis, 1993). In the view of Wingfield & Grossman (2006), neurofunctional reorganization accounts for the relative preservation
of receptive language abilities with age. Thus, language abilities are particularly well suited to look for possible neurofunctional reorganization that could support cognitive preservation with
aging. Exploring the neural bases of a specific language component, syntactic processing, Tyler et al. (2010) conducted one study which supported the idea that bilateral recruitment of frontotemporal network helps older adults to improve their performance. However, this compensatory mechanism could well be task-dependent more than process-dependent. In order to provide a more comprehensive view of the phenomena underlying the preservation of language in aging one has to look at many other language components. Among all components of language, the semantic processing of words is the one that is best preserved in aging. It is also a component language that relies on the most widely distributed neural networks in both hemispheres. As such, tuclazepam it represents a unique window on the neurofunctional reorganization occurring in the aging brain. Our group undertook a series of studies to describe the neurofunctional reorganization underlying the preserved ability to process words’ semantics that is associated with optimal cognitive aging. These studies were conducted in order to examine whether the neurofunctional reorganization pattern underlying the preservation of the semantic processing of words corresponded to one or more of the phenomena already reported in the first section of this article. The following section summarizes these studies.
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