I will review a series of recent studies examining the influence of aging-related losses in striatal dopamine (DA) function on aging-related cognitive deficits. In general, this research indicates that statistical control of PET-derived measures of pre- and post-synaptic DA function in caudate and putamen drastically reduces or even eliminates the aging-related variation in tasks assessing perceptual speed, executive functions, and episodic memory. Moreover, DA markers contribute to the cognitive variation independent of age, suggesting that DA plays a general role in higher cognitive functions. Avenues for future research are discussed, including comparisons of striatal and extrastriatal DA markers in relation to cognitive aging as well as the possibility of combining receptor imaging with functional imaging.
Back to Neuropsychology, brain aging and imaging
Back to Symposia
Back to The IPA European Regional Meeting (1-4 April 2003) of IPA