Nun Study
A study funded by the National Institute of Aging followed a group of 678 Roman Catholic sisters and recorded the effects of aging. The researchers used autobiographical essays collected as the nuns joined their Sisterhood. Findings suggest that early idea density, defined by number of ideas expressed and use of complex prepositions in these essays, was a significant predictor of lower risk for developing Alzheimers disease in old age. Lower idea density was found to be significantly associated with lower brain weight, higher brain atrophy, and more neurofibrillary tangles. Hypothalamus inflammation and GnRH
In a recent study (published May 1, 2013), it is suggested that the inflammation of the hypothalamus may be connected to our overall aging bodies. They focused on the activation of the protein complex NF-κB in mice test subjects, which showed increased activation as mice test subjects aged in the study. This activation not only affects aging, but affects a hormone known as GnRH, which has shown new anti-aging properties when injected into mice outside the hypothalamus, while causing the opposite effect when injected into the hypothalamus. Itll be some time before this can be applied to humans in a meaningful way, as more studies on this pathway are necessary to understand the mechanics of GnRHs anti-aging properties. Inflammation
A study found that myeloid cells are drivers of a maladaptive inflammation element of brain-ageing in mice and that this can be reversed or prevented via inhibition of their EP2 signalling. Aging disparities
For certain demographics, the effects of normal cognitive aging are especially pronounced.
For example, it is possible that sensory deficits impact older adults attentional abilities. In other words, impaired hearing or vision may make it more difficult for older adults to do well on tasks of visual and verbal attention. Changes in memory
Many different types of memory have been identified in humans, such as declarative memory (including episodic memory and semantic memory), working memory, spatial memory, and procedural memory. Studies done, have found that memory functions, more specifically those associated with the medial temporal lobe are especially vulnerable to age-related decline. A number of studies utilizing a variety of methods such as histological, structural imaging, functional imaging, and receptor binding have supplied converging evidence that the frontal lobes and frontal-striatal dopaminergic pathways are especially affected by age-related processes resulting in memory changes. Changes in language
Changes in performance on verbal tasks, as well as the location, extent, and signal intensity of BOLD signal changes measured with functional MRI, vary in predictable patterns with age. For example, behavioral changes associated with age include compromised performance on tasks related to word retrieval, comprehension of sentences with high syntactic and/or working memory demands, and production of such sentences. Genetic changes
Variation in the effects of aging among individuals can be attributed to both genetic, health, and environmental factors. As in so many other science disciplines, the  nature and nurture debate is an ongoing conflict in the field of cognitive neuroscience. The search for genetic factors has always been an important aspect in trying to understand neuro-pathological processes.