Life span development and decline in cognition- biological foundations

We focus on life span development and decline in cognition (attention,memory and executive functions) in healthy persons from 7 to 75 years. The projects include measures of structural MRI, functional imaging, genetics, cognitition and neuropsychology. Th e study builds on an established biobank material of healthy persons in the age range 50-75 and seeks to expand it by adding young adult participants and children, by adding advanced imaging methods and by securing longitudinal follow-up data. The goal s are to provide answers to the following broad questions: a.What is the relative impact of regional maturation and pruning (cortical volume reductions) and regional anatomical growth (volume increase) in driving development in specific cognitive domains at different ages? The focus will be on attention,memory and executive functions. b.To what extent is cognition maintained by stable and identical neuroanatomical structures through the adult life span? Data from our group and others point to a positive r elation of preserved cognition and intact neuroanatomical volumes, but also suggest that specific cortical thickening may benefit cognition in older age. c.To what extent are structure-function relationships mediated by genetic variation in single nucleot ide polymorphisms? Data indicate differences in the course of cortical thickness changes with age between ApoE epsilon 4 carriers and non-carriers, but the sample is restricted in age and should be expanded. Studies are pursued by a core group of investi gators in collaboration with international groups with high expertise in MR-morphometry and cognitive neurogenetics. Allele frequencies for ApoE differ significantly between populations, and the functional significance is adressed in a comparative study.