One of the universal concerns of human beings is the issue of aging: How will I meet the changes and challenges that occur with age? What impact can I have on my own aging process? The first modern twin study designed to investigate genetic and environmental influences on the aging process was the New York State Psychiatric Study of Aging Twins begun in 1946. In the last two decades, there has been an upsurge in the number of behavioral genetic studies of the various facets of the aging process. A recent summary reports over two dozen twin studies investigating physical, psychological, and social aspects of aging (Bergeman, 2007). In this review, we focus on the three components of cognitive aging. Primary aging is the normal and pervasive changes in cognitive abilities that occur with age. In contrast, secondary aging is typified by changes in cognitive functioning that result from disease or pathological processes. The distinction between primary and secondary aging is of paramount importance; some changes that were once thought to be an inevitable part of aging (e.g., senile dementia) have been shown to be the outcome of disease processes that can be diagnosed and potentially treated. Finally, the acceleration in decline of cognitive functioning that occurs in the years immediately preceding death is termed tertiary aging or terminal decline. Distinguishing primary, secondary, and tertiary aging is paramount to understanding the nature of cognitive aging.
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Finkel, D., Reynolds, C.A. (2009). Behavioral Genetic Investigations of Cognitive Aging. In: Kim, YK. (eds) Handbook of Behavior Genetics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-76727-7_7
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