Magnetic resonance imaging and neuropsychological testing in the spectrum of normal aging

OBJECTIVE To understand the relationships between brain structures and function (behavior and cognition) in healthy aging. METHOD The study group was composed of 56 healthy elderly subjects who underwent neuropsychological assessment and quantitative magnetic resonance imaging. Cluster analysis classified the cohort into two groups, one (cluster 1) in which the magnetic resonance imaging metrics were more preserved (mean age: 66.4 years) and another (cluster 2) with less preserved markers of healthy brain tissue (mean age: 75.4 years). RESULTS The subjects in cluster 2 (older group) had worse indices of interference in the Stroop test compared with the subjects in cluster 1 (younger group). Therefore, a simple test such as the Stroop test could differentiate groups of younger and older subjects based on magnetic resonance imaging metrics. CONCLUSION These results are in agreement with the inhibitory control hypotheses regarding cognitive aging and may also be important in the interpretation of studies with other clinical groups, such as patients with dementia and mild cognitive impairment.