Cognitive ageing articles from across Nature Portfolio

Seven to 12 year-old children showed greater performance gains on a motor sequence task across post-learning resting periods than adolescents, young adults and older adults, suggesting a developmental advantage in offline motor memory consolidation.

We treated aged monkeys with a dose of the longevity factor klotho, which is known to increase synaptic and cognitive functions in mice. We found that a relatively low dose of klotho enhanced cognition in aged monkeys. These findings are important because they suggest that klotho replenishment could prove to be therapeutic in aging humans.

A study of more than 350,000 individuals has shown that multisite chronic pain is strongly correlated with elevated risk of dementia, decreased cognitive function and reduced hippocampal volume. Further study of these relationships and their potential underlying mechanisms is required and could inform the development of interventions to prevent or slow dementia.

Aging is known to be associated with a decline in memory and mood, but the molecular mechanisms that underlie these changes remain unclear. Moigneu, Abdellaoui and colleagues show that growth differentiation factor 11 reverses deficits in these functions in aged mice, pointing the way towards a novel pro-mnemonic and antidepressant therapeutic target.

Brain functions and connectivity patterns related to maladaptive emotion regulation are poorly understood. We find that, in older adults subjected to high emotional events, functional connectivity between the default mode network and the amygdala is associated with higher anxiety, rumination and negative thoughts.