The Aging Mind: Opportunities in Cognitive Research - Softcover

Committee On Future Directions For Cognitive Research On Aging; Board On Behavioral, Cognitive, And Sensory Sciences; National Research Council; Aging, Committee On Future Directions For Cognitive Research On

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0309069408 ISBN 13: 9780309069403

Publisher: National Academies Press, 2000

Synopsis

Possible new breakthroughs in understanding the aging mind that can be used to benefit older people are now emerging from research. This volume identifies the key scientific advances and the opportunities they bring. For example, science has learned that among older adults who do not suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias, cognitive decline may depend less on loss of brain cells than on changes in the health of neurons and neural networks. Research on the processes that maintain neural health shows promise of revealing new ways to promote cognitive functioning in older people. Research is also showing how cognitive functioning depends on the conjunction of biology and culture. The ways older people adapt to changes in their nervous systems, and perhaps the changes themselves, are shaped by past life experiences, present living situations, changing motives, cultural expectations, and emerging technology, as well as by their physical health status and sensory-motor capabilities. Improved understanding of how physical and contextual factors interact can help explain why some cognitive functions are impaired in aging while others are spared and why cognitive capability is impaired in some older adults and spared in others. On the basis of these exciting findings, the report makes specific recommends that the U.S. government support three major new initiatives as the next steps for research.

Table of Contents

• Front Matter
• Executive Summary
• 1 Understanding the Aging Mind
• 2 Neural Health
• 3 Cognition in Context
• 4 Structure of the Aging Mind
• 5 Implementation
• References
• Appendix A: Age-Related Shifts in Neural Circuit Characteristics and Their Impact on Age-Related Cognitive Impairments
• Appendix B: Homeostatic Processes in Brain Aging: The Role of Apoptosis, Inflammation, and Oxidative Stress in Regulating Healthy Neural Circuitry in the Aging Brain
• Appendix C: The Bearable Lightness of Aging: Judgment and Decision Processes in Older Adults
• Appendix D: Cognitive Aging and Adaptive Technologies
• Appendix E: Health Effects on Cognitive Aging
• Appendix F: Cultural Variations in Cognition: Implications for Aging Research
• Appendix G: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain in Nonhuman Primates: A Prospectus for Research on Aging
• Appendix H: Biographical Sketches
• Index

About this title

About the Author:

Paul C. Stern and Laura L. Carstensen, Editors; Committee on Future Directions for Cognitive Research on Aging, Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences, National Research Council

About this edition

• Publisher: National Academies Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0309069408
• ISBN 13: 9780309069403
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288
• Editor: Stern Paul C., Carstensen Laura L.