Processing speed and the relationship between Trail Making Test-B performance, cortical thinning and white matter microstructure in older adults.

ABSTRACT: Part B of the Trail Making Test (TMT-B) is widely used as a quick and easy to administer measure of executive dysfunction. The current study investigated the relationships between TMT-B performance, brain volumes, cortical thickness and white matter water diffusion characteristics in a large sample of older participants, before and after controlling for processing speed. Four hundred and eleven healthy, community-dwelling older adults who were all born in 1936 were assessed on TMT-B, 5 tests of processing speed, and provided contemporaneous structural and diffusion MRI data. Significant relationships were found between slower TMT-B completion times and thinner cortex in the frontal, temporal and inferior parietal regions as well as the Sylvian fissure/insula. Slower TMT-B completion time w

SUBMITTER: MacPherson SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5637162 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature