Everyone will age but not everyone will take too kindly to it. According to a study, however, it's apparently possible to never age. At least for a part of the brain, that is.
According to researchers from the University of Adelaide, there's a region of the brain that processes information in the same way regardless of the age of the body. Done on 60 individuals, the study involved participants between the ages of 55 and 95 and 18 and 38 years old, an old and young group. Participants were asked to respond to certain stimuli, both non-visual and visual, and it turned out that the area of the brain responsible for spatial skills functions in the same way for the two groups.
In one of the tasks for the study, participants were blindfolded and then made to touch wooden objects. They were then asked to identify where the object in the middle was, with participants manifesting a bias towards the side at the right of the real object center. The bias was subtle but it was consistent so researchers took note of it in the study. Results revealed too that both the older and younger groups of participants performed similarly on tasks that were meant to determine spatial attention.
"When we think of aging, we think not just of the physical aspects but also the cognitive side of it, especially when it comes to issues such as reaction time, which is typically slower among older adults. However, our research suggests that certain types of cognitive systems in the right cerebral hemisphere - like spatial attention - are 'encapsulated' and may be protected from aging," explained Dr. Joanna Brooks, a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide School of Medicine and School of Psychology.
Bodily processes generally slow down as one ages so seeing comparable results between the old and young groups of participants shed some light on the inner workings of the brain. Results from the study can now be used to challenge cognitive aging models currently in place because these signify that the portion of the brain on the right side responsible for spatial-related processing doesn't change levels of dominance throughout the lifespan of an adult.
Brooks says the next challenge now is in figuring out why and how certain areas of the brain age more quickly than others, results of which could revolutionize the treatment of Alzheimer's by providing a better understanding of how the condition affects the brain.
