Centenarians, Supercentenarians: We Must Develop New Measurements Suitable for Our Oldest Old

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Joyce Shaffer¹ 

[1] Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, United States

关键词: centenarians;    supercentenarians;    brain plasticity;    neuroplasticity;    positive psychology;    neurogenesis;    healthy aging;    cognitive;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2021.655497

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Researchers and clinicians need to develop measurements that capture the nuances of the manysenior successes found in centenarians and supercentenarians in order to empower people toimprove healthspans for the duration of extreme lifespans. Only after these measurement toolsare created can we accurately assist our oldest old in fostering further development. MarianDiamond, the mother of neuroplasticity, opined that her evidence was applicable in humans;with the solitary change of adding “TLC” to the research protocol, her rats continued “EnrichingHeredity” throughout the equivalent of 90 human years; this could be the first proof of the powerof positive psychology (Diamond, 1988, 2001). The Flynn effect (Flynn, 2018) found the 20thcentury was “dominated by massive IQ gains from one generation to another” as documented in“at least 34 nations.” Neuroscience provides evidence-based interventions to “prevent, delay onset,and/or reverse” cognitive decline and dementia (Ball et al., 2002, 2013; Mahncke et al., 2006) andto enhance brain architecture and function (Diamond, 1988, 2001; Pereira et al., 2007; Angevarenet al., 2008; Larson, 2008; Baker et al., 2010; Lojovich, 2010; Erickson et al., 2011, 2014; Jessbergerand Gage, 2014; Nagamatsu et al., 2014; Niemann et al., 2016; Ryan and Nolan, 2016; Shaffer, 2016;Burzynska et al., 2017; Edwards et al., 2018). This article reviews research showing that healthyaging without dementia is achievable (Andersen-Ranberg et al., 2001; Perls, 2004; Jopp et al., 2016;Qiu and Fratiglioni, 2018) even with lesions postmortem (Mizutani and Shimada, 1992) and urgesdevelopment and application of measurements suitable for centenarians and supercentenarianswhich could inform development of evidence-based interventions across the extreme lifespan.

【 授权许可】

CC BY