TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kuehn, Esther
AU  - Perez Lopez, Mario
AU  - Diersch, Nadine
AU  - Döhler, Juliane
AU  - Wolbers, Thomas
AU  - Riemer, Martin
TI  - Embodiment in the aging mind.
JO  - Neuroscience & biobehavioral reviews
VL  - 86
SN  - 0149-7634
CY  - Amsterdam [u.a.]
PB  - Elsevier Science
M1  - DZNE-2020-06139
SP  - 207-225
PY  - 2018
AB  - Bodily awareness is a central component of human sensation, action, and cognition. The human body is subject to profound changes over the adult lifespan. We live in an aging society: the mean age of people living in industrialized countries is currently over 40 years, and further increases are expected. Nevertheless, there is a lack of comprehensive knowledge that links changes in embodiment that occur with age to neuronal mechanisms and associated sensorimotor and cognitive deficits in older adults. Here, we synthesize existing evidence and introduce the NFL Framework of Embodied Aging, which links basic neuronal (N) mechanisms of age-related sensorimotor decline to changes in functional (F) bodily impairments, including deficits in higher-level cognitive functions, and impairments in daily life (L). We argue that cognitive and daily life impairments associated with old age are often due to deficits in embodiment, which can partly be linked to neuronal degradation at the sensorimotor level. The framework may encourage the development of novel approaches to improve autonomous living for older adults.
KW  - Activities of Daily Living
KW  - Aging: physiology
KW  - Body Image
KW  - Brain: physiopathology
KW  - Cognitive Dysfunction: physiopathology
KW  - Humans
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:29175306
DO  - DOI:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.11.016
UR  - https://pub.dzne.de/record/139817
ER  -