Right-lateralized fronto-parietal network and phasic alertness in healthy aging

Phasic alerting cues temporarily increase the brain’s arousal state. In younger and older participants, visual processing speed in a whole report task, estimated based on the theory of visual attention (TVA), is increased in cue compared to no-cue conditions. The present study assessed whether older participants’ ability to profit from warning cues is related to iFC in the cingulo-opercular and/or right fronto-parietal network. We obtained resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data from 31 older participants. By combining an independent component analysis and dual regression, we investigated iFC in both networks. A voxel-wise multiple regression in older participants revealed that higher phasic alerting effects on visual processing speed were significantly associated with lower right fronto-parietal network iFC. We then compared healthy older participants to a previously reported sample of healthy younger participants to assess whether behaviour-iFC relationships are age group specific. The comparison revealed that the association between phasic alerting and cingulo-opercular network iFC is significantly lower in older than in younger adults. Additionally, it yielded a stronger association between phasic alerting and right fronto-parietal network iFC in older versus younger participants. The results support a particular role of the right fronto-parietal network in maintaining phasic alerting capabilities in aging.