Different Study Designs When Investigating Cognitive And Neural Ageing Using Neuroimaging

There are people who think that older adults are not capable of learning new information because of the number of neurons in their brain decline as they age. In the PBS video “Stealing Time”, the old cage potato rats were given a change of scene with an enriched environment and the results were that their dendrites grew and made new synaptic connections where there were none before. These rats were better on future tasks than the old rats that were not given a change of scene. When older adults are doing a task in a laboratory setting they are less efficient at processing the information presented to them and their reaction time is slower. “Older adults show more brain activity between the prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobe than

As adults age their executive functioning start to slow down. The structural changes in the prefrontal cortex

Age-related declines are not constant across brain regions. Moreover, patterns of brain aging differs among individuals. Post mortem (PM) studies cannot help in assessment of brain tissue and its components. Moreover, PM cannot provide information on dynamic process of adult brain development, and its connection with brain structure and function. MRI helps in in-vivo measurements of the brain. It was realized that there is cortical thinning as age progresses. . Some studies of cortical thickness failed to replicate stability of the primary sensory regions (e.g., calcarine cortex) (Fjell et al., 2009; Salat et al., 2004) while others found that cortical thinning in frontal and parietal lobes exceed that of the temporal and occipital regions (Thambisetty et al., 2010). It is suggested that myelin is related to shrinkage in cerebral cortex or responsible for loss of cortical volume. MRI has helped evaluate leukoaraiosis which is a change in white matter integrity that is displayed on a T2-weighted MR image as a high signal intensity area. This area is defined as white matter hyperintensities (WMH) which depicts pathological processes such as ischemic lesions, gliosis, axonal degeneration, loss of myelin, microinfarcts, and expansion of perivascular spaces (de Leeuw et al., 2001; Pantoni, 1998). WHM is observed around the borders of the ventricles and deep in the subcortical WM regions. WHM is not present in health adults until the age of 50-55 (Hopkins et al., 2006). Further,

Within the last century, and even merely in the past decade, incredible advancements in technology have allowed modern medicine to rapidly progress to extraordinary levels, leaving scientists with unprecedented understanding of the human body, and of the aging process especially. While the field of gerontology has flourished as a result and knowledge of physiological changes in the aging body increased, scientists still only have a some-what fundamental understanding of the normal aging brain, and even less of abnormal age-related changes in the brain.

Aging is a natural process of life however, studies show that there are some age-related decline in cognitive development. As a person grows older some brain cell dies, shrink, or weaken and cause some decline in brain functions. Some cognitive processes include attention, working memory, long-term memory, perception, and executive control. The material will explain the effect of aging on cognitive development by providing scholarly research proof.

In the early years of clinical neuropsychology, the focus of education and practice was on applying neuropsychological test results to make declarations about lesion location. However, neuroimaging today, neurological clinical and training has moved to describing weaknesses and strengths and defining the effect on the patient’s lifespan. Previous years of neuropsychology were controlled by so-called fixed assessment batteries, now there are more flexible measurements. This alteration in philosophical emphasis has influenced training in clinical neuropsychology at all phases. As neuropsychology has grown, sub concentration have been established. These include postdoctoral training focused on explicit populations that are based on diagnosis (e.g., dementia) and age (i.e., geriatric vs. adult vs pediatric.) (Bodin, Roper, O’Toole, and Haines,

Aging is a natural process of cognitive impairment in elderly people causing loss of executive functions as compared to younger people. A huge number of people in our current population are in this group. Eurostats (European statistical Institute) data show 18.9% of the European population in 2015 was 65 years and over. With aging, the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases like dementia increases.

Alzheimer’s to be studied. The initial ages of 40-50 allow for a long enough window of

3- Such studies, especially those that cover a wide age span, have another problem. Like longitudinal research, they can be threatened by cohort effects. (Berk 37)

There are also cognitive changes during middle adulthood. There is a mixed pattern of positive and negative changes in cognitive abilities. Processing speed starts to decrease during this time period however crystallized thought does not decline until older age (pg. 456). Working memory begins to decline however semantic memory continues to increase as we learning throughout our older years (ph 456). Usually most memory decline is during older age and can be attributed to Alzheimer’s disease of dementia.

Cognitive aging is commonly labeled strictly as memory and only found in “some people”. However, this is not true. The knowledge of cognitive aging has grown immensely, but there is still much to be learned. The surface has only been scratched with many more questions to be answered. Cognitive aging is worthy of study and effects everyone, but there is also much more is still to be learned.

The human brain undergoes significant developmental changes through adolescence and into young adulthood (White, 2003). The most critical changes to the brain during this time occur in the frontal lobes (White, 2003). Specifically, these changes are seen in the prefrontal cortex (Steinberg, 2005). The prefrontal cortex is the control center for cognition and its

Craft, J Gordon, C 2011, ‘Alterations in neurological function across the life span’, in J Craft, C Gordon, A Tiziani (eds), Understanding pathophysiology, Elsevier Mosby, Chatswood, NSW, pp. 188-226.

Why does the human brain age? Brain aging is a part of human life and a big part of society as the awareness for brain aging increases. Over time memory tends to become less efficient as we age and the neurons in the brain decreases (Bendheim, P.E. (2009). By 2050 in the US, 20 percent of the population will be 65 years or older. And as the elderly population increases, so will the incidence of age-related neurological disorders (Perlmutter, David. (2004). Therefor it is important to understand the aging brain, and how to keep the brain functioning as one ages.

The Williams article referenced a Langer study about the relationship between the mind and aging. The piece was published in the BBC News Magazine so the writing style and information were written for an audience comprised of the general population. The experimental design was a two group study of elderly men aged 70-80 (Williams, 2007). Langer hypothesized that the age mindset (young or older) precipitates physical results (Williams, 2007) Williams described the study as follows: the men were relocated to a retreat setting and divided into two groups; one group was instructed to talk about their life in the 1950s; while the other group was instructed to live and talk as if they were in the 1950s. The reported outcome found that the group that