Neural differentiation is moderated by age in scene- but not face-selective cortical regions

The aging brain is characterized by neural dedifferentiation - an apparent decrease in the functional selectivity of category-selective cortical regions. Age-related reductions in neural differentiation have been proposed to play a causal role in cognitive aging. Recent findings suggest, however, that age-related dedifferentiation is not equally evident for all stimulus categories and, additionally, that the relationship between neural differentiation and cognitive performance is not moderated by age. In light of these findings, in the present experiment younger and older human adults (males and females) underwent fMRI as they studied words paired with images of scenes or faces prior to a subsequent memory task. Neural selectivity was measured in two scene-selective (parahippocampal place area and retrosplenial cortex) and two face-selective (fusiform and occipital face areas) regions of interest using both a univariate differentiation index and multivoxel pattern similarity analysis. Both methods provided highly convergent results which revealed evidence of age-related reductions in neural dedifferentiation in scene-selective but not face-selective cortical regions. Additionally, neural differentiation in the parahippocampal place area demonstrated a positive, age-invariant relationship with subsequent source memory performance (recall of the image category paired with each recognized test word). These findings extend prior findings suggesting that age-related neural dedifferentiation is not a ubiquitous phenomenon, and that the specificity of neural responses to scenes is predictive subsequent memory performance independently of age. Significance StatementIncreasing age is associated with reduced neural specificity in cortical regions that are selectively responsive to a given perceptual stimulus category (age-related neural dedifferentiation), a phenomenon which has been proposed to contribute to cognitive aging. Recent findings reveal that age-related neural dedifferentiation is not present for all types of visual stimulus categories, and the factors which determine when the phenomenon arises remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that scene- but not face-selective cortical regions exhibit age-related neural dedifferentiation during an attentionally-demanding task. Additionally, we report that higher neural selectivity in the scene-selective parahippocampal place area is associated with better memory performance after controlling for variance associated with age group, adding to evidence that neural differentiation impacts cognition across the adult lifespan.