Abstract
Due to socio-demographic changes toward an aging population, cognitive aging research is gaining societal and practical importance. Current research is focused on describing age-related and mortality-related trends in cognitive performance, studying potential causes of these changes, identifying factors that promote maintenance of cognitive functioning, and developing interventions based on these research findings. The goal of this research group is to showcase new developments in cognitive aging research dealing with cognitive changes with age and impending death as well as with effects of cognitive training. Hülür et al. examine heterogeneity in trajectories of cognitive change in the last months of life based on routine assessments from 30,000+ Swiss nursing home residents. Robitaille et al. use data from the Swedish OCTO-Twin and the UK Newcastle 85+ studies to examine heterogeneity in terminal decline of global cognition. Thorvaldsson examines pros and cons of terminal decline as a generic model of cognitive aging and associations with cardiovascular health. Bielak et al. use data from the Synapse randomized control trial and evaluate whether intraindividual variability in cognitive speed improves as a result of the cognitive intervention. The discussion by Hiroko Dodge will focus on how these approaches contribute to our understanding of processes of cognitive aging and how they can be utilized to promote maintenance of cognitive functioning in old age.