How the brain supports social processing as people age

Because aging weakens cognitive skills, older people can struggle to read difficult social cues. A brain region involved in attention and arousal—the locus coeruleus (LC)—helps with complex tasks, and its connections to the cortex may adapt as humans age to support cognition. To shed more light on this, Maryam Ziaei, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and colleagues explored whether the LC and its cortical pathways change over time to help process faces that are difficult to read. 

In their new JNeurosci paper, the researchers imaged the brains of young (21 to 29 years old) and old (67 to 75 years old) adults as they looked at faces. Older adults had more LC activity than younger adults when facial expressions were harder to understand. More specifically, a projection from the LC to a cortical brain area involved in decision making and executive function was stronger in older people. This pathway was the strongest in older adults with better mental well-being and emotional resilience.  

Thus, according to the authors, this LC neural pathway may adapt over time to support difficult social tasks, like reading ambiguous facial expressions. This supportive role may be due to the contributions of this pathway to mental and emotional health. Says Ziaei, “It may be possible to promote emotional and mental regulation by targeting this pathway. This could help older people facing cognitive decline or even younger people with conditions like anxiety or depression better deal with social processing.” 

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About JNeurosci 

JNeurosci was launched in 1981 as a means to communicate the findings of the highest quality neuroscience research to the growing field. Today, the journal remains committed to publishing cutting-edge neuroscience that will have an immediate and lasting scientific impact while responding to authors' changing publishing needs, representing breadth of the field and diversity in authorship. 

About The Society for Neuroscience 

The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 35,000 members in more than 95 countries. 

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