White matter macrostructure simultaneously predicts perceived rejection and cognitive inflexibility in late life

The interplay between brain white matter health and cognitive flexibility in late life is intimate. Understanding the age-related patterns of white matter disintegration along the cingulum network will aid in elucidating factors underlying individual susceptibility to psychiatric illness related cognitive flexibility impairment. We evaluated Bayesian Pearson correlations between a measurement of T1/T2-FLAIR kurtosis and psychiatric risk factors available in a UK Biobank sample. Our findings strongly suggest (BF10>100) that MRI apparent integrity loss in the cingulum, uncinate fascicles and corticothalamic fibers is a significant corollary of an older-age exclusive effect of increased perceived rejection that co-occurs with cognitive flexibility decline.