NIA Home > About NIA > Strategic Plan > Research Goal B
In the past, significant loss in the ability to remember, learn, think, and reason-skills known collectively as cognition-were considered a normal part of aging. Now we know that most people remain both relatively alert and mentally able as they age and that severe cognitive loss is the result of disease. Without disease, older people can maintain mental acuity by taking part in activities that stimulate the mind and the body. Remaining actively and productively engaged in one's community and social group, and leading a healthy lifestyle are important in maintaining optimum brain function. Severe mental decline is not inevitable; the aged brain maintains the capacity to make new connections, absorb new information, and acquire new skills.
Some losses in memory and other aspects of cognition do occur with advancing age. Being able to distinguish between normal changes and the abnormal changes of disease is crucial for diagnosing disease and for designing strategies to maintain cognitive function. This knowledge is being developed by studying changes in areas of the brain involved in learning and memory, such as the hippocampus.
New methods of imaging the activity of specific regions of the brain allow scientists to see the brain at work during cognitive tasks and thus help identify age-related neural changes and ways in which the older brain attempts to compensate in order to maintain optimal cognitive function.
Knowing how the brain ages provides important information on which to base strategies for maintaining and enhancing cognition through biological and behavioral interventions. For example, it was recently shown that some new neurons form in adulthood in certain regions of the brain, contrary to prevailing beliefs. This advance presents the possibility that methods could be found to compensate for neuron loss and cognitive decline from disease or traumatic injury. Behavioral strategies are also being developed to retain cognitive function.
To maintain cognition and avoid disease and disability, research is needed to:
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