FROM NEUROSCIENCE LABORATORY TO NEUROLOGY CLINIC

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REVERSING PERSPECTIVES ON DEMENTIA: SUPERAGING

İrem Onin Yırıkoğulları

Sabancı University, Experimental Psychology PhD Program, İstanbul, Türkiye

Onin Yırıkoğulları İ. Reversing Perspectives on Dementia: Superaging. In: Hanoğlu L, editor. From Neuroscience Laboratory to Neurology Clinic. 1st ed. Ankara: Türkiye Klinikleri; 2025. p.153160.

ABSTRACT

In this section, under the title of “Reversing Perspectives on Dementia: Superaging”, aging processes, studies on healthy aging, and research on superaging are discussed. Today, there are severe increases in human life, supported by technological and medical developments. We will talk about the increasing number of older adults aged 60 and over and the changes in cognitive processes that develop with them. Then healthy individuals aged 60 and over, defined as SuperAgers, are a special elderly group whose cognitive abilities and episodic memory skills are equal to those of individuals 20 to 30 years younger. Although researchers have not yet found a definitive reason to explain the superior abilities of this special elderly group compared to their age, two fundamental theories have been put forward to explain the aging process, which is different from usual. These are: they may be resistant/immune to the effects of aging, or they may have superior cognitive performance compared to their peers when they were young, and even if they experience losses in their cognitive processes as they age, it is thought that they do not show the same rate of loss as their peers. Therefore, it has been suggested that they can always show higher cognitive performance than their peers. Brain imaging studies have determined that SuperAgers have greater cortical thickness than their peers and their brain volumes are closer to those of young adults. In addition, no significant difference was found when compared to individuals 20 to 30 years younger than themselves, both functionally and structurally. These results also show their resistance to aging. Examining such special healthy and rare groups before they are caught in the aging process and neurodegenerative diseases that develop with aging can help us prevent disease diagnosis and obtain more information about preserving the healthy process. In this section, we will discuss the findings on this subject.

Keywords: Superagers; Dementia; Episodic Memory; Attention; Healthy Aging

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