Newswise — Corinna Loeckenhoff is an associate professor of gerontology and human development at Cornell University and Weill Cornell Medical College. She comments on the recent National Institutes of Health research, which found negative attitudes about aging formed in younger years, haunts people decades down the road. Loeckenhoff’s work revolves around global attitudes about aging. Her most recent study found that those in traditional societies hold more favorable views on getting older.
Bio: www.human.cornell.edu/bio.cfm?netid=cel72
Loeckenhoff says:
“Fortunately, aging attitudes are not set in stone. My collaborators and I have found that perceptions and beliefs about aging vary considerably across different cultures. In particular, we recently found that Amazonian Tsimane forager farmers who live in a culture based on oral traditions hold more favorable attitudes towards memory aging than respondents from industrialized cultures.
“It would be fascinating to see if the findings in this National Institutes of Health study translate into lower rates of Alzheimer’s among the Tsimane. Also, a better understanding of the role of older adults in traditional cultures may help us to find ways to counter negative aging views in the U.S. and other industrialized societies.
“This study, published in the journal Psychology and Aging, adds to growing evidence that the negative attitudes about aging that we form in our younger years can haunt us decades down the road. The findings are the first to document such effects with regard to the brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease. A particular strength of the study is that the authors present converging evidence from magnetic resonance imaging in the living brain and autopsy data.”
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