Abstract
Studies suggest that aging affects the sensory re-weighting process, but the neuroimaging evidence is minimal. Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a novel neuroimaging tool that can detect brain activities during dynamic movement condition. In this study, fNIRS was used to investigate the hemodynamic changes in the frontal-lateral, temporal-parietal, and occipital regions of interest (ROIs) during four sensory integration conditions that manipulated visual and somatosensory feedback in 15 middle-aged and 15 older adults. The results showed that the temporal-parietal ROI was activated more when somatosensory and visual information were absent in both groups, which indicated the sole use of vestibular input for maintaining balance. While both older adults and middle-aged adults had greater activity in most brain ROIs during changes in the sensory conditions, the older adults had greater increases in the occipital ROI and frontal–lateral ROIs. These findings suggest a cortical component to sensory re-weighting that is more distributed and requires greater attention in older adults.
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08 February 2018
In the original publication, Figs. 2 and 3 are not placed in the correct order. Figure 2 should be replaced by Fig. 3 and Fig. 3 should be replaced by Fig. 2.
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Acknowledgements
The authors give special thanks to Anita Lieb for her help on this project. Grants: This work was supported by the Pennsylvania Lions Hearing Research Foundation (GA-3303), the University of Pittsburgh Older Americans Independence Center (NIH P30 AG024827), and the Eye and Ear Foundation.
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A correction to this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-018-5177-7.
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Lin, CC., Barker, J.W., Sparto, P.J. et al. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) brain imaging of multi-sensory integration during computerized dynamic posturography in middle-aged and older adults. Exp Brain Res 235, 1247–1256 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-017-4893-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-017-4893-8