Brain network control costs shift with age and Alzheimer's risk

In a preprint study of 279 older adults at familial risk for Alzheimer's disease, researchers examined longitudinal shifts in the energetic costs required to transition between functional brain states. Control energy increased over time for state maintenance and for transitions between sensorimotor and attentional networks, though it decreased for another sensorimotor-attentional transition.

Changes in transition costs between higher-order networks tracked cognitive performance. Greater dorsal attention-executive transition costs were associated with poorer immediate memory, whereas lower executive to default-limbic transition costs were associated with poorer attention. Furthermore, higher levels of plasma p-tau181, an Alzheimer's biomarker, were associated with lower dorsal attention to default-limbic transition costs.