Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate age-related changes in brain functional connectivity during various motor and cognitive tasks, providing evidence for evaluating and intervening in brain aging. METHODS: 15 elderly participants (ELD) and 30 young controls (YOU) were assessed. fNIRS haemodynamic responses were recorded during the Purdue nail board motor task, continuous minus 7 cognitive task, and motor-cognitive dual task. Differences in brain activation, functional connectivity, integral values, and barycentre values between the groups were compared using oxygenated haemoglobin (HbO) concentrations over time. RESULTS: The ELD group performed significantly worse than the YOU group (p < 0.05). ELD participants showed significantly lower activation in the LSMA during motor tasks (p < 0.05), the RDLPFC and LDLPFC during cognitive tasks (p < 0.05), and both RSMA and LSMA during dual tasks (p < 0.05). Functional connectivity between LDLPFC, RSMA, LSMA, and RDLPFC-LDLPFC, LSMA-RSMA in the ELD group was significantly lower than in the YOU group (p < 0.05). The ELD group also had lower connectivity in RSMA, RDLPFC-LDLPFC, and LSMA-RSMA during cognitive tasks (p < 0.05). The centre of gravity for the ELD group was significantly lower during dual tasks compared to the YOU group (p < 0.05). In cognitive tasks, the ELD group showed significantly lower RSMA centre of gravity and integral values compared to dual tasks (p = 0.05). CONCLUSION: Elderly individuals exhibit lower cortical brain connectivity than young people across various tasks. fNIRS-based cerebral haemodynamics provide a useful quantitative measure for evaluating age-related brain changes.