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Presidential Address: Lifespan Neuropsychology: The New Age-ing Frontier
Sandra Weintraub
The "New Age" of the science of Neuropsychology has been forged by evolving concepts of the functional organization of the brain according to principles of large-scale neuroanatomical network connectivity and by an ontogenetic perspective on brain and cognitive health from infancy to advanced old age. In the past 30 years, the study of cognitive aging and dementia has taken on a growing urgency. The American Academy of Neurology dubbed the 1990's the "Decade of the Brain" and the American Psychological Association called the first ten years of this century, the "Decade of Behavior". These monikers attest to the fact that the brain has achieved its due status as a target of intense research investigation and of frequent coverage in the popular press. Most importantly, brain health has captured the attention of public policy makers as a critical priority and our field has played a significant role in that development. At the inception of the INS in 1967, when Karl Pribram, noted psychologist and neurosurgeon was president, the early foundations of the field of brain and behavior rested on experimental studies in human and non-human primates and on the study of patients with cognitive and behavioral deficits due to neurological lesions. Now, with the advent of novel technologies combined with increasingly sophisticated experimental behavioral paradigms, we are able to probe the structure and function of the human brain in real time. These advances have heralded a new age of neuropsychology. This year's INS program for the 41st annual North American conference applauds these advances in the study of cognitive aging and dementia and in the linkage between early developmental events and their long term impact on brain aging outcomes. The future holds unprecedented promise for the field. This meeting may well mark a new beginning, a time when our knowledge will lead to restorative techniques that can prevent and treat neurological disorders of cognition and behavior and when techniques for maintaining brain health can catch up with the extended longevity promoted by medical advances of the past century.
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