Impairment in abstraction and set shifting in aged Rhesus monkeys

Moore, Tara L; Killiany, Ronald J; Herndon, James G; Rosene, Douglas L; Moss, Mark B

« Previous Next »Neurobiology of Aging
Volume 24, Issue 1 , Pages 125-134, January 2003

Impairment in abstraction and set shifting in aged Rhesus monkeys

Tara L Moore
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, 715 Albany Street, W-701 Boston, MA 02118, USA
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-617-638-4054; fax: +1-617-638-4922.
Ronald J Killiany
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, 715 Albany Street, W-701 Boston, MA 02118, USA
- Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA
James G Herndon
- Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
Douglas L Rosene
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, 715 Albany Street, W-701 Boston, MA 02118, USA
- Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
Mark B Moss
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, 715 Albany Street, W-701 Boston, MA 02118, USA
- Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA
- Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA

Received 10 September 2001; received in revised form 1 April 2002; accepted 1 April 2002.

Abstract

Understanding the nature of changes in cognition with aging has increased in importance as the number of individuals over the age of 65 years grows. To date, studies have demonstrated that age-related changes occur most extensively in the cognitive domains of memory and executive function. Whereas a large number of studies have been conducted about the effects of aging on memory, far less have explored the effects of aging on the so called “executive function” which include abilities essential for successful performance of higher level activities of daily living. As part of our ongoing effort to better characterize these changes, we assessed executive function in a non-human primate model of normal human aging using the Conceptual Set Shifting Task (CSST). This recently developed task assesses abstraction, concept formation and set shifting in the monkey in a way analogous to the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) in humans. Relative to young adult monkeys, aged monkeys evidenced significant difficulty in both acquisition and performance on this task, and moreover, demonstrated a high degree of perseverative responding. The pattern of performance displayed by the aged monkeys suggests an age-related decline in prefrontal cortex (PFC) functioning.

Keywords: Rhesus monkey, Aging, Executive function, Prefrontal cortex, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test