Age-related decline in executive function as a hallmark of cognitive ageing in primates: an overview of cognitive and neurobiological studies

Abstract

Executive function (EF) is a complex construct that reflects multiple higher-order cognitive processes such as planning, updating, inhibiting and set-shifting. Decline in these functions is a hallmark of cognitive ageing in humans, and age differences and changes in EF correlate with age-related differences and changes in association cortices, particularly the prefrontal areas. Here, we review evidence for age-related decline in EF and associated neurobiological changes in prosimians, New World and Old World monkeys, apes and humans. While EF declines with age in all primate species studied, the relationship of this decline with age-related alterations in the prefrontal cortex remains unclear, owing to the scarcity of neurobiological studies focusing on the ageing brain in most primate species. In addition, the influence of sex, vascular and metabolic risk, and hormonal status has rarely been considered. We outline several methodological limitations and challenges with the goal of producing a comprehensive integration of cognitive and neurobiological data across species and elucidating how ageing shapes neurocognitive trajectories in primates with different life histories, lifespans and brain architectures. Such comparative investigations are critical for fostering translational research and understanding healthy and pathological ageing in our own species. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolution of the primate ageing process'.

Keywords: chimpanzee; cognition; grey mouse lemur; macaque; marmoset; prefrontal cortex.

Figure 1.

VBM analysis of age-related decline in grey matter volume (p < 0.001, uncorrected) in the chimpanzee brain (n = 216). The coloured regions reflect those brain areas that have reductions in grey matter volume with increasing age. PFC, prefrontal cortex; PT, planum temporale; FP, frontal pole; MSFG, medial superior frontal gyrus; MTG, middle temporal gyrus; TP, temporal lobe; IFG, inferior frontal gyrus; HIPP, hippocampus; PCING posterior cingulate; CAUD, caudate; CERB, cerebellum; OFC, orbitofrontal cortex. W. D. Hopkins, unpublished data.