TY - JOUR
T1 - Putting age-associated changes in neurogenesis in their place
AU - Stranahan, Alexis M.
N1 - Funding Information:
I have no conflicts of interest and these data have not been published or submitted elsewhere. This work is funded by NIH NRSA F32 AG034818-01.
PY - 2010/12
Y1 - 2010/12
N2 - Individual differences in cognitive aging are, in some cases, correlated with changes in molecular markers at the neuronal level. However, the use of simple correlations to analyze data across multiple age groups has a number of potential pitfalls. When young animals differ from aged animals on both of the dependent variables being assessed with a correlation analysis, the age difference often accounts for the detection of a relationship between the 2 measures. When the age groups are analyzed discretely, the data may exhibit a completely different trend, as suggested in a recent Commentary. In addition to reconsidering the interpretation of recently published data on the relationship between age-related deficits in cognition and hippocampal neurogenesis, the demands of the task should be taken into account when evaluating the contributions of newly-generated neurons.
AB - Individual differences in cognitive aging are, in some cases, correlated with changes in molecular markers at the neuronal level. However, the use of simple correlations to analyze data across multiple age groups has a number of potential pitfalls. When young animals differ from aged animals on both of the dependent variables being assessed with a correlation analysis, the age difference often accounts for the detection of a relationship between the 2 measures. When the age groups are analyzed discretely, the data may exhibit a completely different trend, as suggested in a recent Commentary. In addition to reconsidering the interpretation of recently published data on the relationship between age-related deficits in cognition and hippocampal neurogenesis, the demands of the task should be taken into account when evaluating the contributions of newly-generated neurons.
KW - Adult neurogenesis
KW - Hippocampus
KW - Water maze
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78650178108&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=78650178108&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2010.06.026
DO - 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2010.06.026
M3 - Comment/debate
C2 - 20832913
AN - SCOPUS:78650178108
SN - 0197-4580
VL - 31
SP - 2179
EP - 2180
JO - Neurobiology of Aging
JF - Neurobiology of Aging
IS - 12
ER -