Plasticity and the Ageing Mind: An Exemplar of the Biocultural Orchestration of Brain and Behavior

Using research on the aging mind, support is offered for the concept of biocultural sciences. The biocultural sciences highlight the notion that human behavior is the joint and co-constructive expression of biological-genetic and cultural-societal processes and conditions. The genome determines the ontogeny of the brain, so does, however, the cultural-social environment and individual behavior. The study of the aging mind illustrates this principle of biocultural co-construction and the historically increasing relative power of cultural factors due to the shorter time scale of cultural transmission when compared to genetic evolution. One theory that demonstrated much fertility distinguishes between the declining biology-driven cognitive mechanics and the maintained or even increasing culture-driven cognitive pragmatics. Whereas, and beginning in early adulthood, the plasticity of the cognitive mechanics decreases with advancing age, the cognitive pragmatics exploit the opportunities of culture and the experiential and interpersonal contexts in which people develop and, therefore, can exhibit lifelong positive expressions. Professional expertise, artistic competence, social-emotional intelligence, and wisdom are examples of late-life potentials in the cognitive pragmatics. This view does not exclude the fact that in the oldest-old (Fourth Age), aging losses become more prominent and affect the cognitive pragmatics as well. A general developmental theory is presented that illustrates how, within the limits offered by biology- and culture-based plasticity, successful aging is accomplished by the orchestration of three behavioral processes: selection, optimization, and compensation