Mario Christov and Juliana Dushanova*
Background: Cognitive decline and symptoms of attention deficits, executive dysfunction, and memory impairments describe dementia in the elderly. Particular frequency oscillations that occur within the affected brain regions could be used to classify some idiopathic dementias as specific diseases. The approach, applied in this study, can be useful for early discrimination between normal and pathological brain aging, and could contribute additional information to the clinical data in evaluating dementia that is of benefit for treatment of cognitive alterations and dementia.
Methods: In this study, the age effect on the brain electrical activity was examined auditory discrimination task (low–frequency and high–frequency tone) at particular cortical locations in beta–frequency bands (β1: 12.5–20; β2: 20.5–30 Hz) during sensory (post–stimulus interval, 0-250 ms) and cognitive processing (250–600 ms).
Results: The beta1 activity is less affected by age during sensory processing. The reduced beta1 was more widespread during cognitive processing. This difference increased in fronto–parietal direction more expressed after high-frequency tone stimulation. Beta2 activity was more pronounced with a progressive age during sensory processing and diminished with age on cognitive processes. Reducing regional-process specificity with progressing age characterized age-related and tone-dependent beta2 changes during sensory processing.
Conclusions: The age influence was higher on the cognitive processes than on the perceptual ones.
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