SynthesisBehavioral and brain functions : BBF2025
Aging-related changes in cognitive flexibility: fMRI meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Behavioral and brain functions : BBF, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Bridge symptoms connecting depressive, sleep, and cognitive domains in rural older adults with type 2 diabetes: a symptom network approach.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Executive Dysfunction in Autism Spectrum Disorder Is Associated With Increased Cerebro-Cerebellar Resting-State Functional Connectivity.Neural plasticity · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
Cognitive flexibility-the ability to adaptively shift between different mental processes-is essential for human functioning. This meta-analysis examines age-related changes in neural correlates of cognitive flexibility using two common assessments: the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (rule-discovery) and Task-Switching Paradigm (rule-retrieval). We synthesized findings from 85 articles comprising 118 experiments with 2246 participants across young, middle-age, and older adult groups. Activation Likelihood Estimation analyses revealed an age-related decrease in neural involvement, particularly in posterior regions, with an anterior shift in older adults. Younger adults exhibited bilateral activation patterns while older adults showed left-dominant activity, indicating neural circuit redistribution. Rule-retrieval tasks consistently engaged left-lateralized frontoparietal regions across all age groups, with middle-age adults additionally recruiting the right cerebellum and medial frontal gyrus. For rule-discovery tasks, age-related changes were observed in bilateral frontoparietal regions, with older adults showing unique activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus. These findings highlight differential aging trajectories for rule-retrieval versus rule-discovery processes, reflecting changes in neural mechanisms with aging. Furthermore, middle-age adults recruited additional regions related to conflict monitoring, whereas older adults relied more on planning-related areas, suggesting strategy differences. Our study provides critical insights into the neural underpinnings of cognitive flexibility and its age-related changes, emphasizing the need for research on mechanisms and task-specific age trajectories.
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Registered trials
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