Aging brain adapts to read ambiguous facial expressions

Because aging weakens cognitive skills, older people can struggle to read difficult social cues. A brain region involved in attention and arousal-the locus coeruleus (LC)-helps with complex tasks, and its connections to the cortex may adapt as humans age to support cognition. To shed more light on this, Maryam Ziaei, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and colleagues explored whether the LC and its cortical pathways change over time to help process faces that are difficult to read. 

In their new JNeurosci paper, the researchers imaged the brains of young (21 to 29 years old) and old (67 to 75 years old) adults as they looked at faces. Older adults had more LC activity than younger adults when facial expressions were harder to understand. More specifically, a projection from the LC to a cortical brain area involved in decision making and executive function was stronger in older people. This pathway was the strongest in older adults with better mental well-being and emotional resilience. 

Thus, according to the authors, this LC neural pathway may adapt over time to support difficult social tasks, like reading ambiguous facial expressions. This supportive role may be due to the contributions of this pathway to mental and emotional health. Says Ziaei, "It may be possible to promote emotional and mental regulation by targeting this pathway. This could help older people facing cognitive decline or even younger people with conditions like anxiety or depression better deal with social processing."