Completed Psychology & Behaviour Brain & Nervous System

University of Edinburgh Centre for Cognitive Ageing & Cognitive Epidemiology supported by BBSRC, EPSRC, ESRC and MRC

Funder MRC (part of UKRI)
Recipient organisation University of Edinburgh
Funding £3.8M
Period Aug 2008 — Aug 2013

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

People in their seventies and eighties differ enormously in how well they can remember, reason, and manage daily tasks—and some of those differences trace back to test scores taken when they were eleven years old. This research tackles two linked puzzles. First, why do some people’s mental abilities hold up well into old age while others decline steeply? Second, why does a person’s cognitive ability in childhood predict their risk of illness and death decades later? The answers are not obvious: vocabulary and general knowledge often stay strong, while other mental skills—like processing speed or problem-solving—can fade from middle age onward. The Centre aims to identify the biological and environmental risk factors that drive these individual differences. If the work succeeds, it could change how we think about healthy ageing. Rather than treating cognitive decline as an inevitable slide, clinicians might one day identify people at higher risk early and intervene—through lifestyle changes, medical monitoring, or targeted support—before independence is lost. The research is fundamentally about understanding the biology of cognitive ageing and the lifelong links between mind and body. It is curiosity-driven, but with a clear practical goal: to replace ignorance with knowledge that can eventually improve how people live their later years.

View original technical description
Cognitive ageing and cognitive epidemiology Professor Ian Deary, Director of the University of Edinburgh Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology. We aim to: (1) identify the risk factors for, and mechanisms of, individual differences in age-related cognitive decline; and (2) try to understand why prior cognitive ability-even from childhood-is associated with health and survival in later life. People differ greatly in the degree to which their brains, and the rest of their bodies, decline with age. Cognitive ageing is complex: there is little age-related decline in some mental functions-such as vocabulary, some numerical skills, and general knowledge-but other mental capabilities decline from middle age onwards, or even earlier. Mental competence is necessary for carrying out everyday activities, living independently, and for general health and wellbeing, and mental capability itself is a causative factor in adult health, especially in old age. Low levels of mental ability, even from early life, and any age-related cognitive decline, are important risk factors for premature illness and death. We don‘t fully understand the biological foundations of cognitive ageing, and we don‘t fully understand why human intelligence is linked to later health and wellbeing. The Centre is devoted to adding new, practically-useful knowledge to help reduce this ignorance.

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Researchers

Ian Deary (Principal Investigator)

Related Research

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Original classification

Research Grant

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