Cognitive neuroscience of aging: present research status and future prospect

Population aging has become a serious social problem for China and the world. Researchers have focused on the study of cognitive neuroscience in aging, revealing the underlying mechanisms and laws of brain aging from cognition, brain structure and brain function, exploring and developing effective intervention approaches and tools to delay cognitive decline. It is of great significance to maintain the brain health and improve quality of life. In this manuscript, we overviewed the neural mechanisms of cognitive aging according to the evidence of brain structure aging, brain function aging, cerebral blood flow and brain aging. Multiple cognitive aging theories and hypotheses have been constructed from the perspective of compensation and dedifferentiation, however, these theories and hypotheses take less account of findings from studies on brain structure aging, resting-state neuroimaging as well as brain blood flow. Adhering to regular exercise, engaging in more cognitive activities and maintaining a healthy lifestyle and diet pattern could help older adults improve cognitive function and delay cognitive decline. We predicted the future directions of cognitive neuroscience of aging from development of cognitive aging theory, studies on cognitive aging from the perspective of lifespan development, functional networks of aging brain and brain plasticity, and the effect of gene on brain aging. Finally, we discussed the future prospect focusing on the construction of the behavior-gene-brain database of adult lifespan development in China, using and developing new techniques to study cognitive aging and explore effective brain function improvement training methods, and conducting studies on rural older adults and clinical older populations.