[The FMRI Study of the Calculation Tasks in Normal Aged Volunteers]

Objective: To investigate the feasibility and cortex activation of fMRI in aged volunteers during the performance of calculation tasks.

Methods: Internal mental calculation tasks including simple tasks and complicated tasks were conducted in 11 normal aged volunteers. The fMRI data was postprocessed using SPM99 to reveal the activated cortex.

Results: The simple calculation tasks were fulfilled satisfactorily in all aged subjects. Cortex in the bilateral Superior parietal lobule, inferior parietal lobule and bilateral occipital lobes showed activation. We found a selective enhancement of fMRI signal in Brodmann regions 9, 10 and 46 in the complicated tasks.

Conclusion: fMRI tasks are feasible in aged people and more cortex of the left frontal lobe shows activation in complicated calculation tasks.