Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Mar 3, 2025
Open Peer Review Period: Mar 4, 2025 - Apr 29, 2025
Date Accepted: May 22, 2025
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Overcoming digital divide slowed down the atrophy of middle frontal gyrus in aging adults
ABSTRACT
Background:
With the essential role of information technology in human life, the use of electronic devices creates a digital divide, particularly among elderly individuals. However, the long-term impact on cognitive aging and brain structural changes remains unclear.
Methods:
We examined the role of digital divide in protecting cognition and brain structure in a sample of 1280 elderly participants. The longitudinal data involved 689 individuals. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) was used to match individuals from the Overcoming Digital Divide (ODD) and Digital Divide (DD) groups. A computational framework employing the searchlight technique and cross-validation classification model investigated group differences in structural features and cognitive representation. The aging rate of each voxel's structural feature was calculated to explore the long-term influence of the digital divide.
Results:
Following PSM analysis, each group comprised 640 participants. Executive function and processing speed were most affected by DD. Group differences in structural substrates were observed in the fusiform gyrus, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and superior temporal sulcus. The computational framework identified the key structural substrates related to executive functions and processing speed, excluding the ventro-orbitofrontal lobe. Longitudinal findings highlighted the long-term impact of the digital divide, particularly on the aging rate of the middle frontal gyrus, and its correlation with changes in episodic memory. Conclusion: The study demonstrated that individuals overcome digital divide exhibit gray matter preservation for intact cognitive performance. Cognitive decline prevention approach though mobile digital devices could be explored further.
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Copyright
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