New research from Bruffaerts and colleauges investigated differences across the adult life-span in perceptual and conceptual processing by comparing neural measures of object processing to behaviour. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), they showed better neural semantic processing is linked to both higher picture naming accuracy and higher levels of fluid intelligence. These results indicate that maintaining neural responsivity in older age confers benefits in task-related and domain-general cognitive processes.

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Juho Strommer and colleagues at CamCAN found that Physical Activity Energy Expenditure (PAEE) declines with Age (left plot) d partially mediates the relationship between Age and Fractional Anisotropy (FA) – a measure of white matter health – in several brain tracts like corpus collosum (right).

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Research by Dr Delia Fuhrmann and colleagues shows that lower diastolic blood pressure, higher systolic blood pressure and higher heart rate are each strongly, and independently, associated with white matter lesion burden and microstructure in the brain. These results highlight the importance of maintaining cardiovascular health for healthy cognitive and brain ageing.

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How do we sustain youth-like cognitive abilities despite brain-wide structural loss as we get older? While we know that brain function may play a role in this, it is unclear which aspect of brain function is particularly important, e.g. the extent to which brain regions are activated (functional activity) or the extent to which regions â<80><9c>talkâ<80><9d> to each other (functional connectivity). Research by Dr. Tsvetanov andolleagues indicates that functional connectivity, but not functional activity, becomes increasingly important for performance in old age. These insights may facilitate the development of new strategies to support cognitive ability in old age.

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Denis Chan and colleagues at the University of Cambridge studied 205 retired individuals from the CamCAN cohort and found that mid-life intellectual, physical and social activities made significant positive contributions to their current cognitive abilities (IQ). The positive effects of mid-life activities also appear to have a protective effect in the face of poor structural brain health.

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CamCAN paper wins with paper titled “Challenges in measuring individual differences in functional connectivity using fMRI”

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Susanne de Mooij, prof. Rik Henson and Dr. Rogier Kievit investigated whether and when brain connections change with age, and how these changes map onto our cognitive functioning. Using Cam-CAN data, they observed that brain structures become less connected to each other after about 55 years of age. In contrast, the relations between language, memory and reasoning stayed the same across the lifespan. Finally, they found that memory performance becomes less dependent on a white matter network (connecting the hippocampus to other parts of the brain) in later life.

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Dr. Alexa Morcom and Prof. Rik Henson investigate the elevated prefrontal cortex activity that is often observed in healthy older adults despite declines in their memory and other cognitive functions. They compare two leading models of brain ageing: that the frontal cortex is either compensating for impairments elsewhere in the brain; or alternatively, that structural or neurochemical changes lead to less efficient and less specific use of resources. Using sophisticated multivariate statistical modelling of the data, the authors present evidence of the latter explanation.

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Dr. Darren Price and the Cam-CAN team have shown that age-related delay of the brainâ<80><99>s response to visual stimulation s partly explained by damage to information-carrying white matter fibres. At the same time, age-related delay to auditory stimulation is partly explained by damage to grey matter in the auditory cortex. This study is the first to find such a relationship providing important clues regarding the biological origins of cognitive decline.

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