Spontaneous activity in the precuneus predicts individual differences in verbal fluency in cognitively normal elderly.

OBJECTIVE

The precuneus is 1 of the major cortical hubs and plays an important role in normal aging and verbal fluency processing. The main aim of present study was to investigate how intrinsic brain activity in the precuneus at rest predicts individual differences in verbal fluency ability among elderly adults.

METHOD: Regional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) analysis and a correlation-based functional connectivity (FC) approach were used to analyze data acquired from 101 cognitively normal elderly.

RESULTS

ALFF in the precuneus declined with normal aging and was significantly correlated with individual differences in performance on the verbal fluency test (VFT). Specifically, ALFF in the precuneus was reduced in elderly with high fluency (HF) ability compared with those with low fluency (LF) ability. In addition, the HF individuals displayed increased functional connectivity of the precuneus with the lateral temporal area and prefrontal lobe, including the inferior frontal, medial frontal, superior temporal, middle temporal, and superior frontal gyri.

CONCLUSION

Spontaneous activity in the precuneus could predict individual differences in verbal fluency processing. Our results suggest that spontaneous activity in the precuneus is an indicator of aging-related changes in semantic verbal fluency processing, or even a potential biomarker for the early detection of semantic verbal fluency deterioration.