Aging and cognition.
A substantial portion of elderly people experience declines in mental capacities. While these changes are often attributable to serious dementing illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease, a surprising number result from apparently normal aging processes. The effects of senescence on cognition may be indirect (i.e., gait instability leading to falling and subsequent head trauma); however, they may have a more direct and subtle impact on the brain. The evidence available to date suggests that only a limited range of cognitive domains are susceptible to these aging effects. Perhaps the most important are short-term memory functions. The specific character of these and other age-related cognitive deficits are reviewed.
Department of Neurology, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506-9180, USA.
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Keefover
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D011930:Reaction Time