Reinventing Neuroaging Research in the Digital Age

Abstract

The worldwide average human lifespan has increased over the past century. These changing demographics demand a reinvention of experimental approaches to study the brain and aging, with the aim of better matching cognitive healthspan with human lifespan. Past studies of cognitive aging included sample sizes that tended to be underpowered, were not sufficiently representative of national population characteristics, and often lacked longitudinal assessments. As a step to address these shortcomings, we propose a framework that encourages interaction between electronic-based and face-to-face study designs. We argue that this will achieve the necessary synergy to accelerate progress in the discovery and application of personalized interventions to optimize brain and cognitive health.

Keywords: aging trajectories; cognitive aging; web-based recruitment.