UDC

[612.821:612.822](611.81)

Authors

Tat’yana V. Emel’yanova*, Yuliya S. Dzhos*, Irina N. Deryabina*
*Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov (Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation)

Abstract

This study involved 74 older adults, who were divided into two groups according to the results of the reading efficiency test. The first group (25 subjects) had significantly better reading skills, with good understanding, reproduction and critical evaluation of the text; the second group (49 subjects) had significantly worse reading skills (speed, text comprehension coefficient). The electroencephalographic data analysis showed that in a state of quiet wakefulness the brain of older adults from both groups is characterized by symmetrical patterns of frontal and posterior associative areas. It is known that high levels of coherence in the alpha frequency range during quiet wakefulness indicate topographically extensive neural networks both in the right and in the left hemispheres. Such neural networks link spatially separated cerebral structures that prepare the cerebral cortex for cognitive activities. High levels of coherence in the frontal and posterior associative areas of the left hemisphere and posterior associative areas of the right hemisphere in the group of subjects with high reading efficiency can be seen as a mechanism compensating for the lack of mobility of nervous processes in order to ensure optimal integrative activity of the cerebral cortex.

Keywords

intrahemispheric synchronization, older adults, reading efficiency, electroencephalogram

References

1. Gray J.R., Burgess G.C., Schaefer A., Yarkoni T., Larsen R.J., Braver T. Affective Personality Differences in Neural Processing Efficiently Confirmed Using fMRI. Cogn. Affect. Behav. Neurosci., 2005, no. 5, pp. 182–190. 
2. Davey M.P., Victor J.D., Schiff N.D. Power Spectra and Coherence in the EEG of a Vegetative Patient with Severe Asymmetric Brain Damage. Clin. Neurophysiol., 2000, vol. 111, no. 1, pp. 1949–1954. 
3. Boldyreva G.N., Zhavoronkova L.A., Sharova E.V., Dobronravova I.S. Mezhtsentral’nye otnosheniya EEG kak otrazhenie sistemnoy organizatsii mozga cheloveka v norme i patologii [Intercentral EEG Relationships as a Reflection of Normal and Pathologic State of the Human Brain]. Zhurnal vysshey nervnoy deyatel’nosti im. I.P. Pavlova, 2003, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 391–401. 
4. Klimesch W. Memory Processes, Brain Oscillations and EEG Synchronization. Int. J. Psychophysiol., 1996, vol. 24, no. 1–2, pp. 61–100. 
5. Federmeier K.D., Kutas M. Right Words and Left Words: Electrophysiological Evidence for Hemispheric Differences in Meaning Processing. Cogn. Brain Res., 1999, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 373–392. 
6. Wingfield A., Grossman M. Language and the Aging Brain: Patterns of Neural Compensation Revealed by Functional Brain Imaging. J. Neurophysiol., 2006, vol. 96, no. 6, pp. 2830–2839. 
7. Kuno K. Chtenie vo Frantsii [Reading in France]. Moscow, 1992. 23 p. 
8. Velichkovskiy B.B. Vozmozhnosti kognitivnoy trenirovki kak metoda korrektsii vozrastnykh narusheniy kognitivnogo kontrolya [Performance Capabilities of Cognitive Training as a Method of Correcting Age-Related Decline in Cognitive Control]. Eksperimental’naya psikhologiya, 2009, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 78–91. 
9. de Magalhaes J.P., Sandberg A. Cognitive Aging as an Extension of Brain Development: A Model Linking Learning, Brain Plasticity and Neurodegeneration. Mech. Ageing Dev., 2005, vol. 126, no. 10, pp. 1026–1033. 
10. Scarmeas N., Stern Y. Cognitive Reserve and Lifestyle. J. Clin. Exp. Neuropsychol., 2003, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 625–633. 
11. Emel’yanova T.V. Osobennosti mezhpolusharnoy sinkhronizatsii korkovykh zon u lyudey pozhilogo vozrasta s raznoy produktivnost’yu chteniya [Peculiarities of Interhemispheric Synchronization of Cortical Areas in the Elderly with Different Reading Efficiency]. Vestnik Severnogo (Arkticheskogo) federal’nogo universiteta. Ser.: Medikobiologicheskie nauki, 2015, no. 4, pp. 54–65. 
12. Borodina V.A., Borodin S.M. Monitoring kachestva chteniya v obrazovanii [Monitoring the Quality of Reading in Education]. Chelovek chitayushchiy: Homo legens, 2013, no. 5, pp. 185–197. 
13. Zakharova I.A. Kompensatornyy potentsial pri normal’nom i patologicheskom starenii [Compensatory Potential in Normal and Pathological Aging]. Sistemnaya psikhologiya i sotsiologiya, 2013, no. 7, pp. 65–74. 
14. Mel’nikova T.S., Lapin I.A., Sarkisyan V.V. Obzor ispol’zovaniya kogerentnogo analiza EEG v psikhiatrii [Use of Coherent EEG Analysis in Psychiatry]. Sotsial’naya i klinicheskaya psikhiatriya, 2009, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 90–94. 
15. Ponomareva N.V., Fokin V.F., Pavlova O.A., Androsova L.V., Selezneva N.D. Analiz korrelyatsii mezhdu neyrofiziologicheskimi pokazatelyami i urovnem gormona stressa kortizola pri normal’nom starenii [Analysis of Correlation Between Neurophysiological Parameters and the Level of Cortisol Stress Hormone in Normal Ageing]. Vestnik RAMN, 1999, no. 3, pp. 46–49. 
16. Fokin V.F., Ponomareva N.V., Bukatina E.E. Neyrofiziologicheskie prediktory smerti [Neurophysiological Predictors of Death]. Uspekhi gerontologii, 1997, vol. 1, pp. 61–65. 
17. Federmeier K.D., Kutas M. A Rose by Any Other Name: Long-Term Memory Structure and Sentence Processing. J. Mem. Lang., 1999, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 469–495. 
18. Federmeier K.D., Mai H., Kutas M. Both Sides Get the Point: Hemispheric Sensitivities to Sentential Constraint. Mem. Cognit., 2005, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 871–886. 
19. Lerner Y., Honey C.J., Katkov M., Hasson U. Temporal Scaling of Neural Responses to Compressed and Dilated Natural Speech. J. Neurophysiol., vol. 111, no. 12, pp. 2433–2444.