Neurocognitive Aging

On average, most aspects of adult human brains and cognitive functions experience decline with age, yet individuals also differ greatly in how much decline they experience. This review surveys the state of the art in neurocognitive aging research and our progress toward understanding brain and cognitive aging. It covers the empirical evidence that characterizes their respective mean changes with age before highlighting the substantial and important heterogeneity in how severely people experience aging. It then discusses major neurocognitive aging theories and current supporting evidence alongside methodological and conceptual caveats, including those arising from the replication crisis. This review concludes by using a systems biology schema to survey newer areas of research and future opportunities that will serve to narrow the gaps between biological levels of explanation, furthering our understanding of mechanisms, the stratification of risk, and ameliorative strategies.