Tuesday 14 March 2017

JUST PUBLISHED: Age, Cognitive Decline, and Brain's White Matter

New research at UON’s Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory (FNL) has been featured in the latest issue of Research Australia’s online magazine, which showcases health and medical research (Insight, 2017, Issue 4, p. 14-15). 

Dr Todd Jolly’s PhD research indicates that the effects of cardiovascular health on cognition may be greater than the effects of age per se. This work was performed under the supervision of Associate Professor Frini Karayanidis within UON’s Priority Research Centre for Stroke and Brain Injury. The findings suggest the relationship between age and cognitive decline could be explained by brain white matter health. Moreover, older people who reported one or more cardiovascular risk factors show greater decline in brain white matter health and cognition than older adults with no risk factors. This work has implications for prevention of cognitive decline and theories of cognitive ageing.