A study published in eNeuro by Tatiana Wolfe and her team at the University of Arkansas has explored how structural changes in the brain may impact adaptability in adults as they age.
The researchers reviewed previous neuroimaging studies to find which areas of the brain are connected to adaptive behavior. They then used data from the Human Connectome Project, a publicly available resource, to identify different structures that help these brain regions communicate and work together. The study found that structures involved in switching between tasks or updating information about the environment are more strongly associated with adaptive behaviors in older adults compared to younger ones.
Using an additional imaging dataset from the UK Biobank, the researchers observed that biological features of these critical brain structures—those relied upon more by older individuals—deteriorate over time. This deterioration may be linked to declines in behavioral adaptability that often occur later in adulthood.
"This work supports the idea that brain structures linked to the brain's ability to adapt to the environment undergo age-related changes and point to potential measures for identifying these changes," according to the researchers.
