Environmental Influences on Cognitive and Brain Plasticity During Aging
Abstract
In the current article, we provide a critical review of the extant literature that has focused on environmental influences on cognitive and brain plasticity over the adult life span. The review includes both human epidemiological, and human and nonhuman cross-sectional and longitudinal research. We review a number of factors that have been suggested to reduce age-related cognitive decline including both formal and informal education, leisure pursuits, intellectual engagement, and expertise in different skill domains. We also examine the literature on cognitive and physical fitness training. We conclude with a discussion of the gaps in the literature and suggestions for future research.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Aging brains can produce new neurons, synaptic connections, and blood vessels.
“old brains can grow new neurons, synaptic connections, and new vasculature.”
From Enrichment Effects on Adult Cognitive Development: Can the Functional Capacity of Older Adults Be Preserved and Enhanced? (2008) · cites this paper as Kramer, Bherer, Colcombe, Dong, & Greenough, 2004
Cites
The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.100.3.363 · Cited by 9,564 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Third, expertise benefits in the form of age 3 expertise interactions appear to depend on the maintenance of deliberate practice rather than just the performance of the complex skills and tasks (145,149).”
BackgroundThe processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition
Salthouse, T. A. (1996) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.103.3.403 · Cited by 5,568 · cited 4× · see citing works
“Bosman (135,136) replicated and extended Salthouse’s typing studies.”
BackgroundInfluentialRunning increases cell proliferation and neurogenesis in the adult mouse dentate gyrus
van Praag, H., Kempermann, G., & Gage, F. H. (1999) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/6368 · Cited by 3,880 · see citing works
Hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults: the HAROLD model
Cabeza, R. (2002) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/0882-7974.17.1.85 · Cited by 2,125 · see citing works
Schmidt, R. A., & Bjork, R. A. (1992) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1992.tb00029.x · Cited by 1,582 · cited 1× · see citing works
“This literature suggests that manipulations that maximize performance during training can often be detrimental in the long run, while factors that slow acquisition of new skills can be more effective in retention and transfer of training to new tasks (212).”
BackgroundAerobic fitness reduces brain tissue loss in aging humans.
Colcombe, S. J., Erickson, K. I., Raz, N., Webb, A. G., Cohen, N. J., McAuley, E., & Kramer, A. F. (2003) · The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences · doi:10.1093/gerona/58.2.m176 · Cited by 1,017 · see citing works
Self-citationAge differences in the frontal lateralization of verbal and spatial working memory revealed by PET
Reuter-Lorenz, P. A., Jonides, J., Smith, E. E., Hartley, A., Miller, A., Marshuetz, C., & Koeppe, R. A. (2000) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/089892900561814 · Cited by 998 · see citing works
Corbetta, M. (1998) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.95.3.831 · Cited by 995 · see citing works
The influence of physical fitness and exercise upon cognitive functioning: a meta-analysis
Etnier, J. L., Salazar, W., Landers, D. M., Petruzzello, S. J., Han, M., & Nowell, P. (1997) · Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology · doi:10.1123/jsep.19.3.249 · Cited by 768 · see citing works
Rearing complexity affects branching of dendrites in the visual cortex of the rat
Volkmar, F. R., & Greenough, W. T. (1972) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.176.4042.1445 · Cited by 513 · see citing works
Self-citationTurner, A. M., & Greenough, W. T. (1985) · Brain Research · doi:10.1016/0006-8993(85)90525-6 · Cited by 459 · see citing works
Self-citationSchooler, C., Mulatu, M. S., & Oates, G. (1999) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/0882-7974.14.3.483 · Cited by 435 · see citing works
Isaacs, K. R., Anderson, B. J., Alcantara, A. A., Black, J. E., & Greenough, W. T. (1992) · Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism · doi:10.1038/jcbfm.1992.14 · Cited by 405 · see citing works
Self-citationEducation, Wealth, and Cognitive Function in Later Life
Cagney, K. A., & Lauderdale, D. S. (2002) · The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences · doi:10.1093/geronb/57.2.p163 · Cited by 277 · see citing works
Can decline in adult intellectual functioning be reversed?
Schaie, K. W., & Willis, S. L. (1986) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.22.2.223 · Cited by 251 · see citing works
Reuben, D. B., Judd‐Hamilton, L., Harris, T. B., & Seeman, T. E. (2003) · Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · doi:10.1046/j.1532-5415.2003.51380.x · Cited by 224 · see citing works
Verhaeghen, P., & Marcoen, A. (1996) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/0882-7974.11.1.164 · Cited by 180 · see citing works
Individual differences in trajectory of intellectual development over 45 years of adulthood.
Arbuckle, T. Y., Maag, U., Pushkar, D., & Chaikelson, J. S. (1998) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/0882-7974.13.4.663 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Lindenberger, U., Kliegl, R., & Baltes, P. B. (1992) · Psychology and Aging · doi:10.1037/0882-7974.7.4.585 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Jones, T. A., Hawrylak, N., & Greenough, W. T. (1996) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/0306-4530(95)00041-0 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Regional Brain Changes in Aging Healthy Adults: General Trends, Individual Differences and Modifiers
Raz, N., Lindenberger, U., Rodrigue, K. M., Kennedy, K. M., Head, D., Williamson, A., Dahle, C., Gerstorf, D., & Acker, J. D. (2005) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhi044 · Cited by 2,875 · see citing works
The adaptive brain: aging and neurocognitive scaffolding
Park, D. C., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. (2009) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093656 · Cited by 2,790 · see citing works
Hertzog, C., Kramer, A. F., Wilson, R. S., & Lindenberger, U. (2008) · Psychological Science in the Public Interest · doi:10.1111/j.1539-6053.2009.01034.x · Cited by 1,495 · see citing works
Self-citationAge-associated cognitive decline
Deary, I. J., Corley, J., Gow, A. J., Harris, S. E., Houlihan, L. M., Marioni, R. E., Penke, L., Rafnsson, S. B., & Starr, J. M. (2009) · British Medical Bulletin · doi:10.1093/bmb/ldp033 · Cited by 1,295 · see citing works
International exercise recommendations in older adults (ICFSR): Expert consensus guidelines
Izquierdo, M., Merchant, R. A., Morley, J. E., Anker, S. D., Aprahamian, I., Arai, H., Aubertin-Leheudre, M., Bernabei, R., Cadore, E. L., Cesari, M., et al. (2021) · The Journal of nutrition, health and aging · doi:10.1007/s12603-021-1665-8 · Cited by 1,247 · see citing works
The ageing cortical synapse: hallmarks and implications for cognitive decline
Morrison, J. H., & Baxter, M. G. (2012) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn3200 · Cited by 965 · see citing works
The bilingual adaptation: How minds accommodate experience
Bialystok, E. (2017) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/bul0000099 · Cited by 906 · see citing works
A theoretical framework for the study of adult cognitive plasticity
Lövdén, M., Bäckman, L., Lindenberger, U., Schaefer, S., & Schmiedek, F. (2010) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0020080 · Cited by 731 · see citing works
Mental Exercise and Mental Aging: Evaluating the Validity of the “Use It or Lose It” Hypothesis
Salthouse, T. A. (2006) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1745-6916.2006.00005.x · Cited by 679 · see citing works
Dumitriu, D., Hao, J., Hara, Y., Kaufmann, J., Janssen, W. G. M., Lou, W., Rapp, P. R., & Morrison, J. H. (2010) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.6410-09.2010 · Cited by 439 · see citing works
Leisure activities, cognition and dementia
Wang, H.-X., Xu, W., & Pei, J.-J. (2012) · Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Basis of Disease · doi:10.1016/j.bbadis.2011.09.002 · Cited by 289 · see citing works
Education and Cognitive Decline in Older Americans: Results From the AHEAD Sample
Alley, D., Suthers, K., & Crimmins, E. (2007) · Research on Aging · doi:10.1177/0164027506294245 · Cited by 269 · see citing works
Izquierdo, M., de Souto Barreto, P., Arai, H., Bischoff-Ferrari, H. A., Cadore, E. L., Cesari, M., Chen, L.-K., Coen, P. M., Courneya, K. S., Duque, G., et al. (2025) · The Journal of nutrition, health and aging · doi:10.1016/j.jnha.2024.100401 · Cited by 273 · see citing works
Environmental enrichment and the sensory brain: The role of enrichment in remediating brain injury
Alwis, D. S., & Rajan, R. (2014) · Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnsys.2014.00156 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Hughes, T. F., Andel, R., Small, B. J., Borenstein, A. R., & Mortimer, J. A. (2008) · The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences · doi:10.1093/geronb/63.4.p241 · Cited by 99 · see citing works
Horr, T., Messinger-Rapport, B., & Pillai, J. A. (2015) · The Journal of nutrition, health and aging · doi:10.1007/s12603-014-0565-6 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Wiebe, S. A., Clark, C. A. C., De Jong, D. M., Chevalier, N., Espy, K. A., & Wakschlag, L. (2015) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s095457941500005x · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Brain Size Growth and Life History in Human Evolution
Leigh, S. R. (2012) · Evolutionary Biology · doi:10.1007/s11692-012-9168-5 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Sociodemographic and lifestyle risk factors for incident dementia and cognitive decline in the HYVET
Peters, R., Beckett, N., Geneva, M., Tzekova, M., Lu, F. H., Poulter, R., Gainsborough, N., Williams, B., de Vernejoul, M.-C., Fletcher, A., et al. (2009) · Age and Ageing · doi:10.1093/ageing/afp094 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Tang, Y.-F., Duan, Y.-J., Ge, R.-D., Lu, X., Gao, B.-Y., Guo, J.-W., & Jiang, S. (2022) · Journal of Integrative Neuroscience · doi:10.31083/j.jin2201005 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kramer, A. F., Bherer, L., Colcombe, S. J., Dong, W., & Greenough, W. T.
- Venue
- The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2004-09-01
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- M940-M957
- ISSN
- 1079-5006
- 1758-535X
- Cited by
- 336
- References
- 20
- Language
- en
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
