Skip to main content

Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Geropsychology

Synonyms

Aging; Cognition; Structural changes; Neural differences

Definition

While physical changes are obvious with age, cognitive neuroscience sheds light on the structural and functional changes that occur in the brain throughout the lifespan. Using behavioral and neural measures, cognitive neuroscience suggests that with increasing age, there are not only cognitive deficits, but also the potential for reorganization and stability of these underlying cognitive processes.

Introduction

Much of the previous behavioral research has focused on losses with age – the senses become less sharp, performance worsens on tasks, and it is easier to become distracted and forgetful. While aging brings readily apparent changes to areas such as physical appearance, health, and stamina, it also brings significant changes to the brain. Cognitive neuroscience has greatly impacted the way in which aging is understood by probing these internal changes. New methods have shown that aging leads to...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Addis, D. R., Leclerc, C. M., Muscatell, K. A., & Kensinger, E. A. (2010). There are age-related changes in neural connectivity during the encoding of positive, but not negative, information. Cortex, 46, 425–433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cabeza, R. (2002). Hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults: The HAROLD model. Psychology and Aging, 17, 85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cabeza, R., & Dennis, N. A. (2012). Frontal lobes and aging. In Principles of frontal lobe function (2nd ed., pp. 628–652). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, K. L., Grady, C. L., Ng, C., & Hasher, L. (2012). Age differences in the frontoparietal cognitive control network: Implications for distractibility. Neuropsychologia, 50, 2212–2223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cappell, K. A., Gmeindl, L., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. (2010). Age differences in prefontal recruitment during verbal working memory maintenance depend on memory load. Cortex, 46, 462–473. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2009.11.009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Craik, F. I., & Byrd, M. (1982). Aging and cognitive processes (pp. 191–211). USA: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, S. W., Dennis, N. A., Daselaar, S. M., Fleck, M. S., & Cabeza, R. (2008). Que PASA? The posterior-anterior shift in aging. Cerebral Cortex, 18, 1201–1209. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhm155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dennis, N. A., Bowman, C. R., & Peterson, K. M. (2014). Age-related differences in the neural correlates mediating false recollection. Neurobiology of Aging, 35, 395–407. doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2013.08.019.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fjell, A. M., et al. (2014). Accelerating cortical thinning: Unique to dementia or universal in aging? Cerebral Cortex, 24, 919–934. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhs379.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gunning-Dixon, F. M., Brickman, A. M., Cheng, J. C., & Alexopoulos, G. S. (2009). Aging of cerebral white matter: A review of MRI findings. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 24, 109–117. doi:10.1002/gps.2087.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gutchess, A. H., Kensinger, E. A., & Schacter, D. L. (2007). Aging, self-referencing, and medial prefrontal cortex. Social Neuroscience, 2, 117–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hasher, L., Stolzfus, E. R., Zacks, R. T., & Rypma, B. (1991). Age and inhibition. Journal of Experimental Psychology-Learning Memory and Cognition, 17, 163–169. doi:10.1037//0278-7393.17.1.163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krendl, A. C., Heatherton, T. F., & Kensinger, E. A. (2009). Aging minds and twisting attitudes: An fMRI investigation of age differences in inhibiting prejudice. Psychology and Aging, 24, 530–541. doi:10.1037/a0016065.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mather, M., & Carstensen, L. L. (2005). Aging and motivated cognition: The positivity effect in attention and memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 496–502. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2005.08.005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nashiro, K., Sakaki, M., & Mather, M. (2012). Age differences in brain activity during emotion processing: Reflections of age-related decline or increased emotion regulation? Gerontology, 58, 156–163. doi:10.1159/000328465.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, D. C., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. (2009). The adaptive brain: Aging and neurocognitive scaffolding. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, D. C., et al. (2004). Aging reduces neural specialization in ventral visual cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101, 13091–13095. doi:10.1073/pnas.0405148101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raz, N., Ghisletta, P., Rodrigue, K. M., Kennedy, K. M., & Lindenberger, U. (2010). Trajectories of brain aging in middle-aged and older adults: Regional and individual differences. NeuroImage, 51, 501–511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rypma, B., Prabhakaran, V., Desmond, J. E., Glover, G. H., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (1999). Load-dependent roles of frontal brain regions in the maintenance of working memory. NeuroImage, 9, 216–226. doi:10.1006/nimg.1998.0404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salthouse, T. A. (1991). Mediation of adult age-differences in cognition by reductions in working memory and speed of processing. Psychological Science, 2, 179–183. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1991.tb00127.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura E. Paige .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore

About this entry

Cite this entry

Paige, L.E., Gutchess, A.H. (2016). Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging. In: Pachana, N. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geropsychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_274-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-080-3_274-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-287-080-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics