Identifying factors underlying resilience to age-related cognitive decline

Normal or healthy ageing is associated with a decline in cognitive capabilities such as memory. Several lifestyle factors influence the trajectory of age-related cognitive decline. However, research linking middle age lifestyle and cognition in later life is often conflicting. Furthermore, it does not typically include measures to discern the effects across multiple cognitive domains. The current project aims to investigate the effect of lifestyle factors at middle age on a range of cognitive domains previously associated with age-related decline. The project will also use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to pinpoint differences in functional activity and elucidate the biological mechanisms by which lifestyle factors confer their influence on age-related cognitive decline. Furthermore, the functional activity in regions of interest will be correlated with task performance to determine whether differences in response are beneficial or detrimental to cognitive performance. The participant sample will be middle-aged and older adults which may be recruited from the customer base of the collaborators, Aviva, to enable the application of stored self-reported data on past lifestyle behaviours. The research results could identify lifestyle modifications that will ameliorate the trajectory of cognitive decline and increase our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the effects. Understanding how we can promote successful ageing becomes ever more important as the older population continues to grow.