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TITLE: [AI] The Aging Brain in Semantic Cognition – Insights from fMRI and TMS

ABSTRACT: Aging is accompanied by a myriad of cognitive changes. While the decline of executive functions, such as working memory, attention, and inhibitory control are hallmarks of cognitive aging, functions that rely on the acquired knowledge about the world (semantic memory), such as language and creativity, usually remain well preserved. These behavioral changes are mirrored by structural, functional, and network changes in the human brain. Importantly, it remains unclear how commonly reported patterns of neural aging, such as reduced specificity and increased dedifferentiation, relate to behavior in different cognitive domains. In my talk, I will present work from the past years aiming to advance our understanding of age-related changes in the functional network architecture in semantic cognition. Exploring semantic processing with language production and comprehension paradigms and the combination of uni- and multi- variate fMRI, task-based functional connectivity, and TMS, I will approach this question from a comprehensive perspective and will demonstrate a relationship between age-related changes in functional networks and behavioral performance in semantic cognition.