Given the success of the previous edition of this Research Topic, we are pleased to announce the release of its second volume. Age-related changes can concurrently affect cognitive, motor, and sensory functioning and their interactions. For instance, age-related unisensory impairments have been linked to slower gait, functional mobility decline, increased risks of falls and reduced quality of life. Additionally, balance impairments have been associated with inefficient interactions between musculoskeletal and sensory systems which are often compromised in aging. Lastly, inefficient multisensory integration processes have been linked to increased falls, worse balance, slower gait, and increased cognitive impairments. Consequently, the successful interaction among sensory, motor and cognitive systems are an integral aspect for everyday life activities, which commonly deteriorate with age.

Recently, studies on aging processes and age-related changes in behavior have been expanding considerably, probably due to the dramatic changes observed in the demographics. This increase in the overall age and proportion of elderly people has heightened the severity of problems associated with the safety and well-being of elderly persons in everyday life. Many researchers working on motor control have thus focused more intensely on the effects of age on motor control. This new avenue of research has led to programs for alleviating or delaying the specific sensory-motor limitations encountered by the elderly (e.g. falls) in an attempt to make the elderly more autonomous.The aggregation of studies from different perspectives is often fascinating, especially when the same field can serve as a common ground between researchers. Nearly all contributors to this book work on sensory-motor aging; they represent a large range of affiliations and backgrounds including psychology, neurobiology, cognitive sciences, kinesiology, neuropsychology, neuropharmacology, motor performance, physical therapy, exercise science, and human development. Addressing age-related behavioral changes can also furnish some crucial reflections in the debate about motor coordination: aging is the product of both maturational and environmental processes, and studies on aging must determine how the intricate interrelationships between these processes evolve. The study of aging makes it possible to determine how compensatory mechanisms, operating on different subsystems and each aging at its own rate, compensate for biological degenerations and changing external demands. This volume will contribute to demonstrating that the study of the aging process raises important theoretical questions.

For most Americans, staying "mentally sharp" as they age is a very high priority. Declines in memory and decision-making abilities may trigger fears of Alzheimer's disease or other neurodegenerative diseases. However, cognitive aging is a natural process that can have both positive and negative effects on cognitive function in older adults - effects that vary widely among individuals. At this point in time, when the older population is rapidly growing in the United States and across the globe, it is important to examine what is known about cognitive aging and to identify and promote actions that individuals, organizations, communities, and society can take to help older adults maintain and improve their cognitive health. Cognitive Aging assesses the public health dimensions of cognitive aging with an emphasis on definitions and terminology, epidemiology and surveillance, prevention and intervention, education of health professionals, and public awareness and education. This report makes specific recommendations for individuals to reduce the risks of cognitive decline with aging. Aging is inevitable, but there are actions that can be taken by individuals, families, communities, and society that may help to prevent or ameliorate the impact of aging on the brain, understand more about its impact, and help older adults live more fully and independent lives. Cognitive aging is not just an individual or a family or a health care system challenge. It is an issue that affects the fabric of society and requires actions by many and varied stakeholders. Cognitive Aging offers clear steps that individuals, families, communities, health care providers and systems, financial organizations, community groups, public health agencies, and others can take to promote cognitive health and to help older adults live fuller and more independent lives. Ultimately, this report calls for a societal commitment to cognitive aging as a public health issue that requires prompt action across many sectors.

A rapidly growing body of research has consituted a new discipline that may be called cognitive neuroscience of aging. This book offers an introduction to the topic, useful to both professionals & students in cognitive neuroscience, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, neuropsychology & neurology.

"Cognitive aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are associated with increasingly debilitating visuospatial disorientation and navigational impairments. These impairments lead older adults and AD patients to become lost during the independent exploration of familiar environments. Visuospatial deficits in aging and AD have been linked to impairments of visual motion processing, and changes in visual evoked potentials. In this dissertation, I review the literature on mechanisms of spatial orientation in aging and AD, and then discuss what is known about attentional influences on related sensory processing changes in aging and AD. I include research on visual motion evoked potentials in the study of visuospatial orientation, the utility of this neurophysiological approach in gaining insight into brain aging, and its potential utility for the objective assessment of AD. The main body of this work is devoted to the presentation of three original studies that employ visual motion evoked potentials (VMEPs) to better understand cognitive and perceptual influences on navigation and orientation in normal aging and AD. In Study One, neurophysiological and behavioral responses were measured to sequential visual stimuli simulating paths of self-movement through the environment. In this way the temporal dynamics of the cortical processing of naturalistically changing scenes were assessed in young controls (YN), older normal controls (ON), and AD patients. In Study Two, the effects of exogenously cued spatial attention on neurophysiological responses to the behaviorally relevant center of motion in optic flow were examined in YN, ON and AD subjects by interleaving valid and invalid spatial cues before the presentation of optic flow target stimuli. In Study Three, the effect of sustained, endogenous attention on neurophysiological responses was examined by superimposing optic flow and 3-letter words in a block-wise paradigm evoking electrophysiological responses that allows me to compare optic flow responses in attended versus non-attended conditions. Consistent with prior research on optic flow VMEPs in aging and AD, results showed that ON and AD subjects can be distinguished by differing characteristics of N200 perceptual response. Compared to YN subjects, both of the older groups show delayed responses. AD consistently showed diminished amplitude as well. Results from the current project support previous findings, and add a new focus on top-down, cognitive influences on perceptual processing. Most notably, these studies show group differences in the N2b component, suggestive of cognitive processing differences attributable to attention. Together these studies contribute to our understanding of both bottom-up visual and top-down behavioral effects on visuospatial orientation and navigation and further elucidate perceptual and cognitive factors in the functional decline of normal and pathological aging"--Leaves vi-vii.

As our society ages, the topic of cognitive aging is becoming increasingly important. This volume provides an accessible overview of how the cognitive system changes as a function of normal aging. Building on the successful first edition, this volume provide an even more comprehensive coverage of the major issues affecting memory, attention, language, speech and other aspects of cognitive functioning. The essential chapters from the first edition have been thoroughly revised and updated and new chapters have been introduced which draw in neuroscience studies and more applied topics. In addition, contributors were encouraged to ensure their chapters are accessible to students studying the topic for the first time. This therefore makes the volume appealing as a textbook on senior undergraduate and graduate courses.

Decades of research have demonstrated that normal aging is accompanied by cognitive change. Much of this change has been conceptualized as a decline in function. However, age-related changes are not universal, and decrements in older adult performance may be moderated by experience, genetics, and environmental factors. Cognitive aging research to date has also largely emphasized biological changes in the brain, with less evaluation of the range of external contributors to behavioral manifestations of age-related decrements in performance. This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of cutting-edge cognitive aging research through the lens of a life course perspective that takes into account both behavioral and neural changes. Focusing on the fundamental principles that characterize a life course approach - genetics, early life experiences, motivation, emotion, social contexts, and lifestyle interventions - this handbook is an essential resource for researchers in cognition, aging, and gerontology.

THE EFFECTS OF AGING ON COGNITIVE MOTOR CONTROL Alex Shaver June, 2019 Director of Thesis: Dr. J.C. Mizelle Major Department: Kinesiology Introduction: Processing speed, working memory capacity, inhibitory function, and long-term memory are all aspects of information processing that become less efficient with age. Unsurprisingly, brain size, density, and proficiency regarding complex motor behavior deteriorate with the introduction of neurological disorders illness, injury, and even healthy aging. What remains unexplained is why declines in the understanding and execution of tool-related actions similar to clinical populations have been seen in the healthy aging population. However, some older individuals maintain the ability to plan and execute complex, goal-oriented movements, referred to as praxis. Whether praxis deficits are a product of neuroanatomical alterations or arise from changes in the functional properties of regions and networks normally recruited for processing tasks is currently unknown. We do know that older adults engage in scaffolding, overactivation of expected brain regions or the additional activation of regions not typically recruited by younger adults in the same task. More specifically, hemispheric asymmetry reduction is a type of scaffolding seen in the older brain (HAROLD). HAROLD activation is described as a reduced activity in the initial region and increased activation in the same area of the opposite hemisphere - reminiscent of a mirror-image. Shifts from using posterior brain regions to anterior regions (PASA) are also patterns seen in healthy older adults. Whether or not these activation patterns are helpful or harmful in compensating for the inevitable changes with healthy aging is unclear. Hypotheses: We hypothesized that the older group (OG) would show increased bilateral activity compared to the younger group (YG) in response to the ideal tool (C1) and plausible tool (C2) conditions. This was expected to be true for each region of interest (ROI): frontal, premotor, and parietal. This bilateral activation is expected to apply to the expected shift from recruiting posterior brain regions to an anterior focus expected for C1 and C2 in OG compared to YG. We also expected to see differences between the groups' ERP amplitudes and latencies indicative of greater task difficulty for OG compared to YG. Purpose: This study aimed to better understand the cortical dynamics that support the ability of some healthy older individuals to evaluate common tools in different situations by comparing the neural responses to younger adults. A better understanding of the neurophysiological differences between these two healthy populations in successful tool-use and evaluation could be helpful in creating more personalized and effective rehabilitation programs for clinical populations as well as otherwise healthy older adults presenting with performance deficits. Methods: This study included twenty-one younger and twelve older right-handed participants between the ages of 18-35 and 60-84 years-old, respectively. Participants were presented with high resolution black and white images of ideal and plausible tool use and asked to identify them based on a preceding action description. Participants indicated their choice by pressing a corresponding button on a response pad. Using a 64-channel electroencephalography cap, the neural responses of these individuals to the stimuli were recorded. The results reported here include two latency windows (0-250ms and 350-550ms post stimulus onset) over bilateral frontal, premotor, and parietal regions of interest (ROIs) for the C1 and C2. Variance was reduced using the Bootstrap resampling method and age-based comparisons of brain activation were made with non-parametric permutation-based statistics, p

Decisions large and small play a fundamental role in shaping life course trajectories of health and well-being: decisions draw upon an individual's capacity for self-regulation and self-control, their ability to keep long-term goals in mind, and their willingness to place appropriate value on their future well-being. Aging and Decision Making addresses the specific cognitive and affective processes that account for age-related changes in decision making, targeting interventions to compensate for vulnerabilities and leverage strengths in the aging individual. This book focuses on four dominant approaches that characterize the current state of decision-making science and aging - neuroscience, behavioral mechanisms, competence models, and applied perspectives. Underscoring that choice is a ubiquitous component of everyday functioning, Aging and Decision Making examines the implications of how we invest our limited social, temporal, psychological, financial, and physical resources, and lays essential groundwork for the design of decision supportive interventions for adaptive aging that take into account individual capacities and context variables. - Divided into four dominant approaches that characterize the current state of decision-making science and aging neuroscience - Explores the impact of aging on the linkages between cortical structures/functions and the behavioral indices of decision-making - Examines the themes associated with behavioral approaches that attempt integrations of methods, models, and theories of general decision-making with those derived from the study of aging - Details the changes in underlying competencies in later life and the two prevailing themes that have emerged—one, the general individual differences perspective, and two, a more clinical focus