What we know:
Age-related changes in the central nervous system can drive cognitive decline directly or by weakening the potential for plasticity. Cognitive training in healthy older adults might be able to reverse some of the functional and structural brain changes associated with age. Animal models are valuable for understanding fundamental principles of the aging brain and cognition and the underlying neuronal mechanisms of age-related changes in perception in humans. Impaired vision compromises visual cognition, and cognitive deficits might impair visual perceptual processes. Vision is particularly important to adults with hearing impairment, who depend more than those without hearing loss on visual cues.
Knowledge gaps:
How can we enhance neuroplasticity after sensory loss using pharmacological approaches or other interventions? How can we establish causality between structural or functional changes and cognitive decline? Are the sensory and cognitive functions in different animals similar or are they served by the same neural machinery? How do age-related changes in the central sensory system affect cognition in aging animal models? Can visual brain training exercises mitigate or postpone aging-related cognitive declines? How generalizable are brain training outcomes? Is brain training most effective during a particular window of time? How does dual sensory impairment, or concurrent vision and hearing impairment, relate to brain and cognitive changes, as well as efforts to rehabilitate them? How do individual differences relate to the topics above?
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