Grant: CIHR Fellowship

While some seniors have significant thinking difficulties, others can perform cognitive tasks as well as young adults. In order to prevent cognitive decline in elders, it is critical to understand which brain structures promote successful aging. The frontal lobes are a prime candidate based on the fact that they undergo the most dramatic change of any brain region across the life span and the fact that this region has been linked to cognitive function. Patients with frontal lobe damage face frustrating thinking problems including difficulty multitasking and vulnerability to distraction, two problems that are also encountered older adults. Brain imaging studies show that young adults rely only on one side of the frontal lobe whereas older adults engage both right and left frontal lobes during difficult cognitive tasks. This pattern of brain recruitment points to the capacity for reorganization (plasticity) of the brain in adulthood. This research will investigate the balance between frontal lobe degeneration and plasticity during healthy brain aging using two neuroscience techniques: functional brain imaging and noninvasive brain stimulation. These techniques will be used to examine changes in brain activity between younger and older adults as they perform an attention-demanding task and to probe the mechanism underlying these changes. The ultimate goal of this research is to use these findings to develop training strategies to improve thinking in older adults and in patients suffering from brain illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease.