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7 - Cognitive ageing: a positive perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

By
Shira Zimerman ,
Lynn Hasher  and
David Goldstein
Edited by
Narinder Kapur
With
Alvaro Pascual-Leone ,
Vilayanur Ramachandran ,
Jonathan Cole ,
Sergio Della Sala ,
Tom Manly  and
Andrew Mayes
Foreword by
Oliver Sacks
Shira Zimerman
Affiliation:
Rotman Research Institute
Lynn Hasher
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
David Goldstein
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Narinder Kapur
Affiliation:
University College London
Alvaro Pascual-Leone
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School
Vilayanur Ramachandran
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
Jonathan Cole
Affiliation:
University of Bournemouth
Sergio Della Sala
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
Tom Manly
Affiliation:
MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit
Andrew Mayes
Affiliation:
University of Manchester
Oliver Sacks
Affiliation:
Columbia University Medical Center
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Summary

Summary

Ageing is characterized by decreased brain volume, changes in general neuronal efficacy and connectivity and by a number of medical conditions, any or all of which contribute to widely reported age-related declines in cognition and memory. However, a number of findings in the recent literature suggest that the age-related declines do not characterize all of cognition, and that there may even be domains in which older adults outperform younger adults. We offer an overview of this evidence along with a review of ways in which standard laboratory procedures may be biased against older adults, leading to an underestimation of their true abilities, as well as to an overestimation of the magnitude of age differences. These two sections raise questions regarding how brain functions compensate in the face of widely reported neurobiological differences with age, and suggest that the full abilities of older adults have yet to be recognized.

Introduction

On 15 January 2009, Captain Chesley Sullenberger landed an engineless plane in the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 154 people aboard. Similar dramatic rescues of crippled aircraft have occurred over the years and most have had one thing in common: a highly experienced pilot was flying the plane. Professional pilots agreed that it was the training and experience of these pilots that enabled them to respond successfully to the extreme challenges their planes faced.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Paradoxical Brain , pp. 130 - 150
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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