Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging ─ Linking Cognitive and Cerebral Aging

This second edition of the popular Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging provides up-to-date coverage of the most fundamental topics in this discipline. Like the first edition, this volume accessibly and comprehensively reviews the neural mechanisms of cognitive aging appropriate to both professionals and students in a variety of domains, including psychology, neuroscience, neuropsychology, neurology, and psychiatry.

The chapters are organized into three sections. The first section focuses on major questions regarding methodological approaches and experimental design. It includes chapters on structural imaging (MRI, DTI), functional imaging (fMRI), and molecular imaging (dopamine PET, etc), and covers multimodal imaging, longitudinal studies, and the interpretation of imaging findings. The second section concentrates on specific cognitive abilities, including attention and inhibitory control, executive functions, memory, and emotion. The third section turns to domains with health and clinical implications, such as the emergence of cognitive deficits in middle age, the role of genetics, the effects of modulatory variables (hypertension, exercise, cognitive engagement), and the distinction between healthy aging and the effects of dementia and depression. Taken together, the chapters in this volume, written by many of the most eminent scientists as well as young stars in this discipline, provide a unified and comprehensive overview of cognitive neuroscience of aging.

Roberto Cabeza is Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University, where he is also Director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. Cabeza investigates the neural mechanisms of memory in young and older adults using behavioral, functional neuroimaging, and brain stimulation techniques.

Lars Nyberg is professor at Umea University, Sweden (in Psychology until 2005, and in Neuroscience since 2006) and director of Umea Center for Functional Brain Imaging. He is a principal investigator of the Betula longitudinal project.

Denise C. Park is Distinguished University Chair of Behavioral and Brain Science at the University of Texas at Dallas. She has held numerous offices in national professional organizations and is a fellow of AAAS, American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society, and Gerontological Society of America. Park has received the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award (2002) and the Distinguished Mentor Award (2015) from the Division of Adult Development and Aging of the American Psychological Association. She has studied the aging mind her entire career and is presently focused on techniques for enhancing cognitive function through neuroplasticity and understanding the transition from cognitive health to Alzheimer's disease.