In studying determinants of cognitive aging and neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia, focus in research has mostly been on genetic background and lifestyle factors in adulthood. Over the past two decades, though, it has become increasingly clear that the foundations for brain functioning in later life are laid down in utero and adverse conditions during the prenatal period may increase the risk for the development of premature cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases. In this chapter, preclinical as well as clinical research that has provided evidence for prenatal influences on cognitive aging will be discussed. Especially in humans, the number of studies examining the effects of prenatal factors on cognitive aging and dementia is still limited. Evidence from studies such as the Dutch famine birth cohort study, though, suggests that factors such as undernutrition in pregnancy influence brain development and accelerate aging of the brain with negative repercussions for cognitive function and risk for dementia in later life. The evidence for a role of prenatal factors in cognitive aging is discussed in the light of the reserve capacity model, and potential underlying mechanisms are briefly reviewed. Finally, experimental studies in rodents suggest that the negative effects of adverse circumstances in early life are reversible. This is highly important and merits further investigation, especially since the number of prenatal factors that may influence cognitive aging is potentially large and may include factors such as maternal obesity and depression, and prenatal exposure to challenges of the immune system and air pollution. Improving these adverse prenatal circumstances may improve cognitive function in later life and decrease the risk for neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia.

We review research on age differences in decision making across adulthood, focusing on behavioral decision-making tasks that measure processes fundamental to decision-making competence. We highlight mechanisms underlying decision-making competence and how to leverage research on mechanisms to design interventions to support decisions. The chapter begins with research showing that complex, multi-attribute decisions challenge aging decision makers but that this is attenuated when older adults are motivated to apply their cognitive resources. Next, we summarize research that shows that experience and knowledge can compensate for age-related fluid cognitive declines to promote better financial decision-making competence. We then highlight research showing that life-span changes in motivation, along with improvements in emotional well-being, are important for understanding age differences in decision making. We provide recommendations for designing interventions to improve health and financial decisions. We conclude by discussing gaps in the literature and directions for future research.

The aging of any biological system results in quantifiable change which may affect the output of the system in subtle or substantial ways. Human cognitive aging is no exception and the manner in which the system, in this case the brain, is able to withstand and/or adapt to the effects of age-related physiological change will determine the individual cognitive trajectory. In this chapter, we review the emerging field of blood biomarkers of cognitive aging with a focus on specific metabolic pathways implicated in cognitive health including cellular energetics, lipid metabolism, the maintenance of redox state, and inflammation. Challenges to blood biomarker development, including methodological and inferential limitations, are also reviewed. Ultimately, blood biomarkers of age-related neurodegenerative disease and cognitive success will provide clues for how we might all age successfully, reducing health care burden on societies and improving quality of life for individuals.

The majority of the world’s population is believed to speak more than one language. Moreover, given current demographic trends, older adults make up a significant portion of our population. In this chapter, we review what is known about the intersection between cognitive aging and language processing in one’s first and second language. We review current research findings concerning speech and language processing in older bilinguals at the level of words, sentences, and discourse. We review the implications of being bilingual for nonlinguistic cognitive functions and cognitive reserve. We close by highlighting the need for models of auditory and visual language processing to accommodate age-related changes in sensation, perception and cognition, and to account for important individual differences in language history and use.

Aging is associated with cognitive decline. The extant literature suggests that exercise positively impacts multiple cognitive domains or at least attenuates the rate of decline among nondemented older adults, but less is known about the broader cognitive impact of daily physical activity (that may or may not fall under the definition of exercise). Evolving technologies have ushered a new wave of research that objectively measures physical activity, providing a metric that is more precise and avoids some of the limitations of self-report data. In this chapter, we briefly review studies examining the relationship between objectively measured physical activity and cognition among older adults. We highlight the current state of the literature on aging, cognition, and wearable technologies that objectively assess physical activity. Our review revealed several cross-sectional studies that show a significant and positive association between overall and specific intensities of physical activity and cognition among older adults. Longitudinal studies indicated that physical activity positively impacts cognitive performance and thus support the notion that physical activity may protect against age-related cognitive decline. Moreover, the extant literature suggests that physical activity may preferentially benefit executive function, processing speed, and episodic memory. Further research on the objective assessment of physical activity and cognition will help identify the precise amount and intensity of daily physical activity that confers optimal cognitive benefits and may inform activity prescriptions for optimal cognitive aging.

With world population senescence and globalization, more present-day older adults will evince cognitive aging that is influenced over a longer life span by a wide range of social practices and motivational beliefs from cultural groups across the world. Although there is no dispute that brain structure and function aggregate biological and experiential influences, a useful framework is still needed regarding the specific neural mechanisms underlying the exchange between biology and experience with age, and the effect on cognition. We introduce a predictive coding framework of the aging cognitive brain that views the older brain as making predictions about the environment based on a lifetime of experience in it. The influence of cultural experiences in shaping the aging predictive brain then reflects individual differences in processing social signals about appropriate or inappropriate behaviors and cognitive styles amid neural resources changes. We briefly annotate relevant findings on age effects and cultural differences in neurocognitive processing. We further review findings showing that cultural cognitive differences are present in children, persist in young adulthood, and are either maintained or accentuated in older adulthood. Finally, we consider that the predictive aging brain is an enculturated one, reflecting the accumulation of a lifetime of experiences that have fortified culture-specific modes of thought and neural processing in older adults.

Decline and deterioration are prominent features of cognitive aging. Against this background, successful cognitive aging is usually conceptualized as buffering, protecting against, or compensating for disrupted neural integrity in the aged brain. Here we review evidence for a parallel dynamic, comprising a life course trajectory of neuroadaptive plasticity, extending from gene expression to cognitive organization. The encouraging implication is that, alongside the search for treatments that target mechanisms of decline, designing interventions to promote neuroadaptive aging may be a feasible alternative.

This chapter reviews both seminal and recent work on late-life depression (LLD), with an emphasis on the vascular depression subtype of LLD. We first describe the clinical features and symptom presentation of LLD, highlighting executive functioning deficits that are a core feature of the “depression with executive dysfunction” syndrome. We discuss both vascular and nonvascular etiological pathways to depression with executive dysfunction in older adults. We highlight recent findings on the association between vascular disease, altered structural and functional brain network connectivity, and clinical symptoms in LLD. Vascular depression is associated with nonresponse to standard pharmacologic treatment. As such, behavioral interventions offer promising avenues for treatment. Novel behavioral approaches encompass psychotherapy, noninvasive brain stimulation, and cognitive remediation that are targeted toward the specific neural circuitry dysfunctions that underlie both affective and cognitive symptoms in older adults. We review these approaches, as well as psychosocial, exercise, and lifestyle interventions.

The personal past is a critical aspect of identity in adulthood, especially in the later phases of life. This chapter reviews theories and empirical evidence on how personal memories are reconstructed over time in life stories. It starts with a historical overview, next describes the functional approach that focuses on why people remember, continues with the self-memory system that provides insight in how specific memories are related to the self-concept, and finally adds a narrative perspective on how people attribute meaning to their past. The chapter takes a life-span developmental approach with a particular focus on later life. It is concluded that the construction of meaning in personal stories about the past is a ubiquitous and adaptive process. Processes of evaluation and reinterpretation of personal memories enable people to maintain a sense of self and share with others the biographical story of how their unique life has unfolded.

Life-span theory has long emphasized that cognitive functioning and well-being are key constituents of successful development and aging. There is mounting empirical evidence that these central domains of life are closely intertwined, with better performance on a number of cognitive ability tests going hand in hand with higher levels of well-being and satisfaction. Less well understood, however, are the multiple different sets of pathways that underlie how and why well-being either represents a consequence of cognitive functioning and development or operates as an antecedent condition thereof. The major objective of the current chapter is to provide a select overview of (1) an exemplary set of mechanisms that help explain the often dynamic and reciprocal links between the two major areas of life and (2) the role that several layers of individual and contextual factors play as resources and constraints. To do so, we proceed in four steps. First, we review conceptual considerations and empirical evidence on stability and change in well-being from mid adulthood to very old age, the vast individual differences in levels and rates of change, and how these differences are shaped by cognitive functioning and change. Second, we consider how well-being may serve as an antecedent of functioning and development of cognitive performance and abilities. Third, we present stress reactivity, health behaviors, social participation, and neurological pathways as some of the presumed underlying processes. Finally, we discuss the role that resources and constraints at individual and contextual levels may play for linking cognition and well-being.