Project Coordinator: André Luis Fernandes Palmini, MD, PhD < / p>

Job Summary: Old age is the main risk factor for degenerative brain diseases. Elderly people in the community vary in the risk of progression along a cognitive continuum in the elderly (ICC). The project will examine elderly people between 70 and 80 years of age for educational, socioeconomic aspects, memory complaints, performance in activities of daily living and neuropsychological tests. At the end, it will be possible to locate individuals along the CCI. In addition, structural and functional MRI scans will be performed to assess structure, brain connectivity parameters and the functional anatomy of memory and language activation .

This assessment will allow the study of modifications in (i) the structure of areas responsible for the formation of memories, (ii) in the organization of neural networks that support cognition and (iii) in the functional plasticity of language and memory. The changes will then be correlated with the position that individuals occupy throughout the ICC.

Funding entity: CNPq: Process nº 482435 / 2013-5