Age is more than just one number. While neuroscientists used to think of cognitive aging as a single trendline, they now realize that vast individual differences require a more predictive and personalized approach. As they uncover more factors that affect cognition over time, they are realizing that modeling the aging brain requires more diverse data than traditionally captured.
“We need to appreciate that how people age is as much a biological process as it is a social process,” says Randy McIntosh of Simon Fraser University, who is chairing a symposium at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) on brain resilience.
“It means there is no single molecule or a single protein that is a biomarker of healthy brain aging; there is going to be some combination. And capturing that…