Contributions of Gray Matter Microstructure to Differences in Fluid Cognition and Episodic Memory Across the Healthy Adult Lifespan.
Overview
- Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
- Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA
Abstract
Cognitive decline, in healthy older adults without cognitive impairment or dementia, has been associated with numerous microstructural alterations in brain tissue using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Prior studies have primarily linked age‐related cognitive decline to alterations in white matter tissue, but methodological advances in diffusion‐weighted imaging (dMRI) data acquisition and modeling now allow for these analyses to be extended to gray matter tissue. Here, using a sample of 152 healthy adults (18–88 years of age), we used a multicompartment dMRI model to assess (1) age‐related differences in gray matter microstructure of functionally defined networks and (2) whether microstructural alterations accounted for age‐related differences in episodic memory and speed‐dependent fluid cognition. We observed significant age‐related alterations in gray matter tissue in the form of nonlinear, age‐related increases and decreases in intracellular and dispersed diffusion, respectively, and linear increases in free diffusion. Free diffusion exhibited the most pronounced age‐related effects, especially for frontoparietal relative to occipital regions. Dispersed diffusion in the dorsal attention network statistically mediated age‐related differences in episodic memory performance. Moreover, higher intracellular diffusion in the default mode and ventral attention networks was related to worse fluid cognition performance, but only for adults > 51 years of age. These results suggest that healthy aging is accompanied by distinct profiles of gray matter microstructural alterations that negatively affect memory and speed‐dependent cognition, the latter of which is more pronounced after midlife.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Code
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Data
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Data Availability Statement
The deidentified behavioral and preprocessed neuroimaging data from are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author and a data sharing agreement will be required. The code that was used for data analyses will be made available on the GitHub profile of the corresponding author upon manuscript acceptance.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
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Version 1, 28 September 2026: the first record
Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 3 authors, 5 keywords, 15 MeSH terms, 2 funders, 87 references.
Cite
This paper
Merenstein, J. L., Bennett, I. J., & Madden, D. J. (2026). Contributions of Gray Matter Microstructure to Differences in Fluid Cognition and Episodic Memory Across the Healthy Adult Lifespan. Human brain mapping, 47(5), e70511. https://
BibTeX
@article{merenstein2026c
author = {Merenstein, Jenna L and Bennett, Ilana J and Madden, David J},
title = {{Contributions of Gray Matter Microstructure to Differences in Fluid Cognition and Episodic Memory Across the Healthy Adult Lifespan}},
journal = {Human brain mapping},
year = {2026},
month = apr,
volume = {47},
number = {5},
pages = {e70511},
publisher = {Wiley},
issn = {1065-9471},
doi = {10.1002/
url = {https://
pmid = {41873035},
pmcid = {PMC13081687}
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
AU - Merenstein, Jenna L
AU - Bennett, Ilana J
AU - Madden, David J
TI - Contributions of Gray Matter Microstructure to Differences in Fluid Cognition and Episodic Memory Across the Healthy Adult Lifespan
T2 - Human brain mapping
J2 - Hum Brain Mapp
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/
VL - 47
IS - 5
SP - e70511
SN - 1065-9471
PB - Wiley
DO - 10.1002/
UR - https://
LA - en
ER -
CSL-JSON
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"URL": "https://
"language": "en",
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