Search

Item does not contain fulltext A large body of research shows that aging is accompanied by localized changes in brain structure and function. However, over the past decade the neuroimaging community has begun to recognize the importance of investigating the brain as a network. Brain regions don't function independently, rather they form an expansive network that allows for communication between distant areas and enables complex cognitive functioning. Hence, age-related changes in the network structure might explain changes in cognitive functioning. Characterizing this network by investigating the brain's functional connectivity has enabled new insights into brain organization. In this chapter, we will outline how the brain's functional connectivity is affected by aging and how changes in functional connectivity relate to changes in cognitive functioning. We will address how neurodegenerative pathology influences functional connectivity and how, based on these measurements, biomarkers for clinical outcome might be developed in the future.

Publisher Summary This chapter highlights two areas of growing contemporary interest in the psychology of aging: autobiographical memory and the narrative self. The recall of autobiographical memories over the life span is a dynamic process. Older people remember relatively more memories from adolescence and early adulthood, than from other periods of life. In general, people also remember more positive events than negative events over the life span. The affect of past and future perspective changes with age―young adults recall relatively more negative events from their past than they expect from the future, whereas older people recall their past more positively and view their future more negatively. Evidence shows that memories recalled by men are more oriented toward work and women's memories toward health and family. The recall of autobiographical memory is a dynamic process related to age and gender.