BBS Faculty Research
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Browsing BBS Faculty Research by Subject "Adulthood"
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Item First Impressions of Adults with Autism Improve with Diagnostic Disclosure and Increased Autism Knowledge of Peers(Sage Publications Ltd, 2017-10-17) Sasson, Noah J.; Morrison, Kerrianne E.; 81829133 (Sasson, NJ); Sasson, Noah J.; Morrison, Kerrianne E.A practical consideration for many intellectually able adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is whether to disclose their diagnostic status or try to mask their autistic characteristics to avoid judgment and discrimination. Here, we assessed first impressions of adults with ASD and typically developing controls (N = 40) made by typically developing observers (N = 215) when their diagnostic status was either withheld, accurately provided, or inaccurately provided. First impressions were less favorable for ASD participants compared to typically developing controls across a range of judgments, but were significantly more positive when accurately labeled as ASD compared to when no label was provided, when mislabeled as typically developing, or when mislabeled as having schizophrenia. For typically developing participants, ratings did not change when accurately labeled but improved when mislabeled as ASD. Greater autistic traits for the ASD and typically developing participants were associated with less favorable first impressions, and females were rated more favorably than males. Autism knowledge of the raters, but not age, IQ, or autistic traits, was positively associated with more favorable impressions of ASD participants. Collectively, these findings suggest that first impressions for intellectually able adults with ASD improve with diagnostic disclosure and increased autism understanding on the part of peers.Item Socioeconomic Status Moderates Age-Related Differences in the Brain's Functional Network Organization and Anatomy Across the Adult LifespanChan, Micaela Y.; Na, Jinkyung; Agres, Phillip F.; Savalia, Neil K.; Park, Denise C.; Wig, Gagan S.; 74141364 (Park, DC); Chan, Micaela Y.; Agres, Phillip F.; Savalia, Neil K.; Park, Denise C.; Wig, Gagan S.An individual's environmental surroundings interact with the development and maturation of their brain. An important aspect of an individual's environment is his or her socioeconomic status (SES), which estimates access to material resources and social prestige. Previous characterizations of the relation between SES and the brain have primarily focused on earlier or later epochs of the lifespan (i.e., childhood, older age). We broaden this work to examine the relationship between SES and the brain across a wide range of human adulthood (20-89 years), including individuals from the less studied middle-age range. SES, defined by education attainment and occupational socioeconomic characteristics, moderates previously reported age-related differences in the brain's functional network organization and whole-brain cortical structure. Across middle age (35-64 years), lower SES is associated with reduced resting-state system segregation (a measure of effective functional network organization). A similar but less robust relationship exists between SES and age with respect to brain anatomy: Lower SES is associated with reduced cortical gray matter thickness in middle age. Conversely, younger and older adulthood do not exhibit consistent SES-related difference in the brain measures. The SES-brain relationships persist after controlling for measures of physical and mental health, cognitive ability, and participant demographics. Critically, an individual's childhood SES cannot account for the relationship between their current SES and functional network organization. These findings provide evidence that SES relates to the brain's functional network organization and anatomy across adult middle age, and that higher SES may be a protective factor against age-related brain decline.Item The Relationship Between Age, Neural Differentiation, and Memory Performance(Society for Neuroscience, 2018-11-02) Koen, Joshua D.; Hauck, Nedra; Rugg, Michael D.; 0000-0002-7286-5084 (Koen, JD); 0000-0002-0397-5749 (Rugg, MD); Koen, Joshua D.; Hauck, Nedra; Rugg, Michael D.Healthy aging is associated with decreased neural selectivity (dedifferentiation) in category-selective cortical regions. This finding has prompted the suggestion that dedifferentiation contributes to age-related cognitive decline. Consistent with this possibility, dedifferentiation has been reported to negatively correlate with fluid intelligence in older adults. Here, we examined whether dedifferentiation is associated with performance in another cognitive domain- episodic memory-that is also highly vulnerable to aging. Given the proposed role of dedifferentiation in age-related cognitive decline, we predicted there would be a stronger link between dedifferentiation and episodic memory performance in older than in younger adults. Young (18 -30 years) and older (64 -75 years) male and female humans underwent fMRI scanning while viewing images of objects and scenes before a subsequent recognition memory test. We computed a differentiation index in two regions of interest (ROIs): parahippocampal place area (PPA) and lateral occipital complex (LOC). This index quantified the selectivity of the BOLD response to preferred versus nonpreferred category of an ROI (scenes for PPA, objects for LOC). The differentiation index in the PPA, but not the LOC, was lower in older than in younger adults. Additionally, the PPA differentiation index predicted recognition memory performance for the studied items. This relationship was independent of and not moderated by age. The PPA differentiation index also predicted performance on a latent "fluency" factor derived from a neuropsychological test battery; this relationship was also age invariant. These findings suggest that two independent factors, one associated with age, and the other with cognitive performance, influence neural differentiation.Item Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of the Left Angular Gyrus During Encoding Does not Impair Associative Memory Performance(Routledge) Koen, Joshua D.; Thakral, P. P.; Rugg, Michael D.; Koen, Joshua D.; Rugg, Michael D.The left angular gyrus (AG) is thought to play a critical role in episodic retrieval and has been implicated in the recollection of specific details of prior episodes. Motivated by recent fMRI studies in which it was reported that elevated neural activity in left AG during study is predictive of subsequent associative memory, the present study investigated whether the region plays a causal role in associative memory encoding. Participants underwent online transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) while encoding word pairs prior to an associative memory test. We predicted that TMS to left AG during encoding would result in reduced subsequent memory accuracy, especially for estimates of recollection. The results did not support this prediction: estimates of both recollection and familiarity-driven recognition were essentially identical for words pairs encoded during TMS to left AG relative to a vertex control site. These results suggest that the left AG may not play a necessary role in associative memory encoding. TMS to left AG did however affect confidence for incorrect ‘intact’ judgments to rearranged pairs and incorrect ‘rearranged’ judgments to intact pairs. These findings suggest that the left AG supports encoding processes that contribute to aspects of subjective mnemonic experience. © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group