Menopause status- and sex-related differences in age associations with spatial context memory and white matter microstructure at midlife.

Decline in spatial context memory emerges in midlife, the time when most females transition from pre- to post-menopause. Recent evidence suggests that, among post-menopausal females, advanced age is associated with functional brain alterations and lower spatial context memory. However, it is unknown whether similar effects are evident for white matter (WM) and, moreover, whether such effects contribute to sex differences at midlife.

Sex differences in longitudinal changes of episodic memory-related brain activity and cognition in cognitively unimpaired older adults with a family history of Alzheimer's disease.

Episodic memory decline is an early symptom of Alzheimer's disease (AD) - a neurodegenerative disease that has a higher prevalence rate in older females compared to older males. However, little is known about why these sex differences in prevalence rate exist. In the current longitudinal task fMRI study, we explored whether there were sex differences in the patterns of memory decline and brain activity during object-location (spatial context) encoding and retrieval in a large sample of cognitively unimpaired older adults from the Pre-symptomatic Evaluation of Novel or Experimental Treatments for Alzheimer's Disease (PREVENT-AD) program who are at heightened risk of developing AD due to having a family history (+FH) of the disease.

Menopause Status and Within-Group Differences in Chronological Age Affect the Functional Neural Correlates of Spatial Context Memory in Middle-Aged Females.

Reductions in the ability to encode and retrieve past experiences in rich spatial contextual detail (episodic memory) are apparent by midlife-a time when most females experience spontaneous menopause. Yet, little is known about how menopause status affects episodic memory-related brain activity at encoding and retrieval in middle-aged premenopausal and postmenopausal females, and whether any observed group differences in brain activity and memory performance correlate with chronological age within group. We conducted an event-related task fMRI study of episodic memory for spatial context to address this knowledge gap.

Age- and Episodic Memory-related Differences in Task-based Functional Connectivity in Women and Men.

Aging is associated with episodic memory decline and changes in functional brain connectivity. Understanding whether and how biological sex influences age- and memory performance-related functional connectivity has important theoretical implications for the cognitive neuroscience of memory and aging. Here, we scanned 161 healthy adults between 19 and 76 years of age in an event-related fMRI study of face-location spatial context memory.

Volume of the posterior hippocampus mediates age-related differences in spatial context memory and is correlated with increased activity in lateral frontal, parietal and occipital regions in healthy aging.

Healthy aging is associated with episodic memory decline, particularly in the ability to encode and retrieve object-context associations (context memory). Neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies have highlighted the importance of the medial temporal lobes (MTL) in supporting episodic memory across the lifespan. However, given the functional heterogeneity of the MTL, volumetric declines in distinct regions may impact performance on specific episodic memory tasks, and affect the function of the large-scale neurocognitive networks supporting episodic memory encoding and retrieval.

Generalization of memory-related brain function in asymptomatic older women with a family history of late onset Alzheimer's Disease: Results from the PREVENT-AD Cohort.

Late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) disproportionately affects women compared to men. Episodic memory decline is one of the earliest and most pronounced deficits observed in AD. However, it remains unclear whether sex influences episodic memory-related brain function in cognitively intact older adults at risk of developing AD.

Sex differences in brain aging among adults with family history of Alzheimer's disease and APOE4 genetic risk.

Emerging evidence suggests that Alzheimer's Disease (AD) risk factors may differentially contribute to disease trajectory in women than men. Determining the effect of AD risk factors on brain aging in women, compared to men, is critical for understanding whether there are sex differences in the pathways towards AD in cognitively intact but at-risk adults. Brain Age Gap (BAG) is a concept used increasingly as a measure of brain health; BAG is defined as the difference between predicted age (based on structural MRI) and chronological age, with negative values reflecting preserved brain health with age.

The association between cognitive reserve and performance-related brain activity during episodic encoding and retrieval across the adult lifespan.

Remembering associations between encoded items and their contextual setting is a feature of episodic memory. Although this ability generally deteriorates with age, there is substantial variability in how older individuals perform on episodic memory tasks. A current topic of debate in the cognitive neuroscience of aging literature revolves around whether this variability may stem from genetic and/or environmental factors related to reserve, allowing some individuals to compensate for age-related decline through differential recruitment of brain regions.

Sex Differences in the Neural Correlates of Spatial Context Memory Decline in Healthy Aging.

Aging is associated with episodic memory decline and alterations in memory-related brain function. However, it remains unclear if age-related memory decline is associated with similar patterns of brain aging in women and men. In the current task fMRI study, we tested the hypothesis that there are sex differences in the effect of age and memory performance on brain activity during episodic encoding and retrieval of face-location associations (spatial context memory).