When the going gets tough, older adults' brains
get going, according to new research by a
University of Michigan professor studying how key
regions of the brain click on when needed.
Several regions in the brain, especially in the
frontal cortex, are involved in helping people
meet the demands of a constantly changing
environment. While earlier research focused on
older adults' failures to activate these regions,
the new U-M research found that older adults can
activate these regions in response to a
challenging task, and may also bring additional
brain regions online to help their performance. <more>
Older brains 'rise to the challenge'
Joshua H Smith, 2005/12/15 15:28:56