Presidential Symposium: New Evidence on Cognitive and Brain Ageing From the Disconnected Mind Project
Year: 2017
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: Building a detailed picture of cognitive and brain ageing is imperative for predicting and ameliorating functional decline in later life. This symposium showcases recent work from the Disconnected Mind project. It centres around the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936, a group of Scottish older people who sat a cognitive test at age 11 in 1947. They were followed up on three occasions, aged 70, 73, and 76 years, the latter two waves including an MRI scan. First, Stuart Ritchie asks whether there is structure in declines across many different cognitive abilities, assessing which lifestyle, genetic, socioeconomic, and health measures are the best predictors of these declines. Second, Simon Cox asks a similar question regarding brain measurements: which variables make predictions of later-life changes in important brain parameters, and how do they interact with one another? Third, Benjamin Aribisala zooms in more deeply on the brain, reporting new analyses of the hippocampus. This memory-linked structure can be imaged in multiple ways, some of which provide better information regarding cognitive decline than others. Finally, Sherif Karama discusses links between cognitive abilities and the thickness of the brain’s cortex in later life. He makes a more general point about aging research, one on which the Disconnected Mind project can make a unique contribution: researchers must take into account pre-existing cognitive ability before drawing conclusions regarding later-life cognitive-brain associations. Overall, the seminar gives an overview of recent developments in understanding the process, biology, and determinants of cognitive aging – and their implications for policy and practice.
Source: Innovation in Aging
Authors: T. Wright, J. Goodwin
Institution: Age UK
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,977
OpenAlex ID: W2725520156