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Kraff Lecture: Seek cognitive novelty to mitigate effects of the aging mind
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SAN FRANCISCO — Continually engaging the mind to avoid "mental autopilot" helps stimulate brain activity that benefits the brain in slowing down the aging process.
Neural imaging studies have shown that a brain presented with a new activity will be highly active in the right frontal area of the brain — the prefrontal cortex. As the task becomes familiar, brain activity shifts backwards and also to the left hemisphere.
Elkhonon Goldberg, PhD, who delivered the Manus C. Kraff Lecture on Science and Medicine at the American Society of Cataract and Refractive meeting here, said this phenomenon explains diminishing brain function in older individuals. Over time, the mind that welcomes novel mental challenges harnesses the benefits of neuroplasticity, or the ability of the brain to regenerate neurons, white matter, glia cells and other essential structural elements. A brain capable of maintaining its structural architecture is more capable of functional processing.
"When we are confronted by a novel task, our prefrontal cortex works very hard, but as we become familiar with the task, the prefrontal cortex becomes less necessary," Dr. Goldberg said. "The left hemisphere is better at dealing with familiarity, while the right hemisphere deals with cognitive novelty."
People who do not stimulate themselves with novel cognitive challenges are at risk for what Dr. Goldberg has termed "mental autopilot," which refers to an overdependence on the left hemisphere over time, thus leading to deficiencies in structure and function in the right hemisphere, particularly in the prefrontal cortex.