Aging, training, and the brain: a review and future directions

Area of Science:

• Cognitive neuroscience
• Gerontology
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• The aging population requires effective strategies to preserve cognitive abilities.
• Cognitive decline is a significant concern for older adults' quality of life.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review existing and novel intervention approaches for improving cognitive performance in healthy older adults.
• To explore the role of neuroimaging in understanding intervention effects on cognition and brain health.

Main Methods:

• Review of past research on interventions like strategy training, multi-modal interventions, cardiovascular exercise, and process-based training.
• Inclusion of studies utilizing neuroimaging techniques to assess intervention outcomes.
• Analysis of neuroimaging data (volume, structural integrity, functional activation) to evaluate intervention efficacy.

Main Results:

• Neuroimaging provides insights into the nature and duration of intervention effects on the brain.
• Studies using neuroimaging guide the identification of core cognitive processes for targeted training.
• Interventions show potential for transfer of trained cognitive processes to other tasks.

Conclusions:

• Neuroimaging is a valuable tool for understanding and optimizing cognitive interventions in aging.
• Research advances our understanding of how to promote successful cognitive aging.
• Continued investigation is needed to address remaining questions in the field.