The Relationship between Processing Speed and Regional White Matter Volume in Healthy Young People

Processing speed is considered a key cognitive resource and it has a crucial role in all types of cognitive performance. Some researchers have hypothesised the importance of white matter integrity in the brain for processing speed; however, the relationship at the whole-brain level between white matter volume (WMV) and processing speed relevant to the modality or problem used in the task has never been clearly evaluated in healthy people. In this study, we used various tests of processing speed and Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM) analyses, it is involves a voxel-wise comparison of the local volume of gray and white, to assess the relationship between processing speed and regional WMV (rWMV). We examined the association between processing speed and WMV in 887 healthy young adults (504 men and 383 women; mean age, 20.7 years, SD, 1.85). We performed three different multiple regression analyses: we evaluated rWMV associated with individual differences in the simple processing speed task, word–colour and colour–word tasks (processing speed tasks with words) and the simple arithmetic task, after adjusting for age and sex. The results showed a positive relationship at the whole-brain level between rWMV and processing speed performance. In contrast, the processing speed performance did not correlate with rWMV in any of the regions examined. Our results support the idea that WMV is associated globally with processing speed performance regardless of the type of processing speed task.

[1]  T. Salthouse,et al.  Information Processing Speed and Aging , 2005 .

[2]  R. Haier,et al.  Neuroanatomy of creativity , 2009, Human brain mapping.

[3]  S. Sato,et al.  Effects of visual acuity and visual motor speed and dexterity on cognitive test performance. , 1989, Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists.

[4]  Dorret I Boomsma,et al.  Genetic correlations between brain volumes and the WAIS-III dimensions of verbal comprehension, working memory, perceptual organization, and processing speed. , 2003, Twin research : the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies.

[5]  R. Kraft,et al.  Relating imaging indices of white matter integrity and volume in healthy older adults. , 2008, Cerebral cortex.

[6]  Bruce Hermann,et al.  Relationship between information processing speed in temporal lobe epilepsy and white matter volume , 2004, Epilepsy & Behavior.

[7]  David J. Therriault,et al.  A latent variable analysis of working memory capacity, short-term memory capacity, processing speed, and general fluid intelligence , 2002 .

[8]  Yasuyuki Taki,et al.  White matter structures associated with creativity: Evidence from diffusion tensor imaging , 2010, NeuroImage.

[9]  Yasuyuki Taki,et al.  Brain structures associated with executive functions during everyday events in a non-clinical sample , 2012, Brain Structure and Function.

[10]  Tara M. Madhyastha,et al.  The association between higher order abilities, processing speed, and age are variably mediated by white matter integrity during typical aging , 2013, Neuropsychologia.

[11]  J. Ridley.  Studies of Interference in Serial Verbal Reactions , 2001 .

[12]  J. Raven,et al.  Manual for Raven's progressive matrices and vocabulary scales , 1962 .

[13]  R. Poldrack,et al.  Relations between the Neural Bases of Dynamic Auditory Processing and Phonological Processing: Evidence from fMRI , 2001, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[14]  Y. Benjamini,et al.  Controlling the false discovery rate: a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing , 1995 .

[15]  Yasuyuki Taki,et al.  Regional gray and white matter volume associated with Stroop interference: Evidence from voxel-based morphometry , 2012, NeuroImage.

[16]  S. Hale,et al.  Relationships among processing speed, working memory, and fluid intelligence in children , 2000, Biological Psychology.

[17]  Christa Neuper,et al.  Individual differences in mathematical competence predict parietal brain activation during mental calculation , 2007, NeuroImage.

[18]  Colin M. Macleod.  Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: an integrative review. , 1991, Psychological bulletin.

[19]  D. Salat,et al.  Choice reaction time performance correlates with diffusion anisotropy in white matter pathways supporting visuospatial attention. , 2005, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[20]  Rex E. Jung,et al.  The neuroanatomy of general intelligence: sex matters , 2005, NeuroImage.

[21]  C. Beaulieu,et al.  The basis of anisotropic water diffusion in the nervous system – a technical review , 2002, NMR in biomedicine.

[22]  Yasuyuki Taki,et al.  Effects of Training of Processing Speed on Neural Systems , 2011, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[23]  D J Tolhurst,et al.  Effect of myelination on the conduction velocity of optic nerve fibres , 1992, Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians.

[24]  Roberto Colom,et al.  General intelligence and memory span: Evidence for a common neuroanatomic framework , 2007, Cognitive neuropsychology.

[25]  T. Salthouse,et al.  Processing speed as a mental capacity. , 1994, Acta psychologica.

[26]  Wiro J Niessen,et al.  White matter microstructural integrity and cognitive function in a general elderly population. , 2009, Archives of general psychiatry.

[27]  Arthur W. Toga,et al.  Human brain white matter atlas: Identification and assignment of common anatomical structures in superficial white matter , 2008, NeuroImage.

[28]  R. C. Oldfield.  The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. , 1971, Neuropsychologia.

[29]  Yasuyuki Taki,et al.  Working Memory Training Using Mental Calculation Impacts Regional Gray Matter of the Frontal and Parietal Regions , 2011, PloS one.

[30]  R. Kail.  Developmental change in speed of processing during childhood and adolescence. , 1991, Psychological bulletin.

[31]  S. Mori,et al.  Principles of Diffusion Tensor Imaging and Its Applications to Basic Neuroscience Research , 2006, Neuron.

[32]  M. Taira,et al.  Cortical areas related to performance of WAIS Digit Symbol Test: A functional imaging study , 2009, Neuroscience Letters.

[33]  Benjamin Thyreau,et al.  White matter structures associated with empathizing and systemizing in young adults , 2013, NeuroImage.

[34]  T. Salthouse.  Relations between cognitive abilities and measures of executive functioning. , 2005, Neuropsychology.

[35]  L. J. Whalley,et al.  White matter integrity and cognition in childhood and old age , 2006, Neurology.

[36]  Bruce G. Pollock,et al.  Age-related decline in white matter tract integrity and cognitive performance: A DTI tractography and structural equation modeling study , 2012, Neurobiology of Aging.

[37]  W. Sturm,et al.  Neuropsychological assessment , 2007, Journal of Neurology.

[38]  F. Barkhof,et al.  Cognitive performance in type 1 diabetes patients is associated with cerebral white matter volume , 2007, Diabetologia.

[39]  Jun Li,et al.  Brain spontaneous functional connectivity and intelligence , 2008, NeuroImage.

[40]  Y. Thomassen,et al.  Neuropsychological effects of low mercury vapor exposure in chloralkali workers. , 2001, Neurotoxicology.

[41]  Yasuyuki Taki,et al.  Failing to deactivate: The association between brain activity during a working memory task and creativity , 2011, NeuroImage.

[42]  Uwe Heinemann,et al.  Decompaction of CNS myelin leads to a reduction of the conduction velocity of action potentials in optic nerve , 1995, Neuroscience Letters.

[43]  Wolfgang Prinz,et al.  Transformations in the Couplings Among Intellectual Abilities and Constituent Cognitive Processes Across the Life Span , 2004, Psychological science.

[44]  J. J. Ryan,et al.  Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III , 2001 .

[45]  S. Waxman.  Determinants of conduction velocity in myelinated nerve fibers , 1980, Muscle & nerve.

[46]  Victoria J. Williams,et al.  Association between white matter microstructure, executive functions, and processing speed in older adults: The impact of vascular health , 2013, Human brain mapping.

[47]  R. Fields.  White matter matters. , 2008, Scientific American.

[48]  Thomas E. Nichols,et al.  Thresholding of Statistical Maps in Functional Neuroimaging Using the False Discovery Rate , 2002, NeuroImage.

[49]  Joanna M. Wardlaw,et al.  A General Factor of Brain White Matter Integrity Predicts Information Processing Speed in Healthy Older People , 2010, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[50]  E. Gordon,et al.  Cognitive aging, executive function, and fractional anisotropy: a diffusion tensor MR imaging study. , 2007, AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology.

[51]  Yasuyuki Taki,et al.  Regional gray matter volume of dopaminergic system associate with creativity: Evidence from voxel-based morphometry , 2010, NeuroImage.

[52]  J. DeLuca,et al.  Information Processing Speed in Clinical Populations , 2013 .

[53]  Derek K. Jones,et al.  Occipito-temporal connections in the human brain. , 2003, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[54]  Scott A Langenecker,et al.  fMRI of healthy older adults during Stroop interference , 2004, NeuroImage.

[55]  箱田 裕司,et al.  集団用ストループ・逆ストループテスト 反応様式, 順序, 練習の効果 , 1990 .

[56]  Rex E. Jung,et al.  Structural brain variation and general intelligence , 2004, NeuroImage.

[57]  T. Salthouse.  The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition. , 1996, Psychological review.

[58]  P. DeRosse,et al.  Age-Related Differences in White Matter Tract Microstructure Are Associated with Cognitive Performance from Childhood to Adulthood , 2014, Biological Psychiatry.

[59]  Yasuyuki Taki,et al.  Verbal working memory performance correlates with regional white matter structures in the frontoparietal regions , 2011, Neuropsychologia.

[60]  Roland Bammer,et al.  Cognitive processing speed and the structure of white matter pathways: Convergent evidence from normal variation and lesion studies , 2008, NeuroImage.

[61]  Y. Assaf,et al.  Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)-based White Matter Mapping in Brain Research: A Review , 2007, Journal of Molecular Neuroscience.

[62]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Voxel-Based Morphometry—The Methods , 2000, NeuroImage.

[63]  Scott A. Huettel,et al.  Age-related slowing of memory retrieval: Contributions of perceptual speed and cerebral white matter integrity , 2008, Neurobiology of Aging.