“Predictors of Cognitive Impairment and Resilience: Insights from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging”

A School of Psychology colloquium on Optimal Aging featuring Susan M. Resnick, National Institute of Aging

Advances in neuroimaging technologies have allowed longitudinal investigation of structural and functional brain changes in health and disease, including more recent studies of in vivo imaging of the amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles that characterize Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This presentation will focus on age-changes in brain structure and function in older adults and factors that modify rates of brain and cognitive aging. Through serial neuroimaging and neuropsychological evaluations of participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), we are examining changes in brain structure and function as predictors of cognitive decline and resilience. Against a background of age-related changes, we have shown that there are regions of accelerated brain changes at the earliest stage of disease in participants who subsequently develop cognitive impairment. In addition, we have identified factors that modify rates of brain changes and affect β-amyloid pathology. In vivo imaging studies of AD neuropathology are informing our understanding of early stages of disease, are providing tools for tests of new hypotheses, and are aiding in selection of participants for clinical trials of interventions that may delay or prevent disease onset and promote brain health.

About the Optimal Aging Initiative
The colloquium is part of the Optimal Aging Initiative of the School of Psychology at Georgia Tech. The initiative  seeks to foster knowledge-sharing and collaboration in translating  research on the effects of aging into evidence-based ways to support the quality of life and competence of older adults.

Reception to follow in Peachtree Room, Student Center