Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33770531›Full record

ArticleNeurobiology of aging2021

GABA levels in ventral visual cortex decline with age and are associated with neural distinctiveness.

Jordan D Chamberlain, Holly Gagnon, Poortata Lalwani, Kaitlin E Cassady, Molly Simmonite, Rachael D Seidler, Stephan F Taylor, Daniel H Weissman, Denise C Park, Thad A Polk

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Neurobiology of aging, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
32citing papers in PubMed
5.0field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

32 citing papers in PubMed, 59 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Dynamic Recovery: GABA Agonism Restores Neural Variability in Older, Poorer Performing Adults.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2021
    Trial
  2. Article
  3. Decreased BOLD Signal Variability in Middle-Aged and Older Adults on the Autism Spectrum.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026
    Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Behavioural stochastic resonance across the lifespan.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2024
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Age and visual cortex inhibition: a TMS-MRS study.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024
    Article
  18. Age-Related Deficits in Binaural Hearing: Contribution of Peripheral and Central Effects.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024
    Article
  19. Review
  20. Dissociative Effects of Age on Neural Differentiation at the Category and Item Levels.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.

Jordan D ChamberlainDepartment of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Penn, USA.
Holly GagnonDepartment of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Poortata LalwaniDepartment of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Kaitlin E CassadyDepartment of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Molly SimmoniteDepartment of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Rachael D SeidlerDepartment of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Stephan F TaylorDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Daniel H WeissmanDepartment of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Denise C ParkThe Center for Vital Longevity, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
Thad A PolkDepartment of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Electronic address: tpolk@umich.edu.
University of Utah · USUniversity of Michigan · USPennsylvania State University · USThe University of Texas at Dallas · USUniversity of Florida · US

Funding

Investigating age-related neural dedifferentiation longitudinally and in Alzheimer’s pathologyR01AG050523 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · PI POLK, THAD A · 2016 to 2025
$5.7M
NIA NIH HHS R01 AG050523
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Age-related neural dedifferentiation-a decline in the distinctiveness of neural representations in the aging brain-has been associated with age-related declines in cognitive abilities. But why does neural distinctiveness decline with age? Based on prior work in nonhuman primates and more recent work in humans, we hypothesized that the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) declines with age and is associated with neural dedifferentiation in older adults. To test this hypothesis, we used magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to measure GABA and functional MRI (fMRI) to measure neural distinctiveness in the ventral visual cortex in a set of older and younger participants. Relative to younger adults, older adults exhibited lower GABA levels and less distinct activation patterns for faces and houses in the ventral visual cortex. Furthermore, individual differences in GABA within older adults positively predicted individual differences in neural distinctiveness. These results provide novel support for the view that age-related reductions of GABA contribute to age-related reductions in neural distinctiveness (i.e., neural dedifferentiation) in the human ventral visual cortex.

Indexed as

Cell DedifferentiationCognitionAgingAnimalsgamma-Aminobutyric AcidHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMagnetic Resonance SpectroscopySensory Receptor CellsVisual Cortexgamma-Aminobutyric AcidAgingDedifferentiationfMRIGABAMR spectroscopyMultivariate pattern analysis

Identifiers

PMID33770531
PMCPMC8205971
OpenAlexW3134999314

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.