The brain during healthy aging exhibits gradual deterioration of structure but maintains a high level of cognitive ability. These structural changes are often accompanied by reorganization of functional brain networks. Existing neurocognitive theories of aging have argued that such changes are either beneficial or detrimental. Despite numerous empirical investigations, the field lacks a coherent account of the dynamic processes that occur over our lifespan. Taking advantage of the recent developments in whole-brain computational modeling approaches, we hypothesize that the continuous process of aging can be explained by the concepts of metastability - a theoretical framework that gives a systematic account of the variability of the brain. This hypothesis can bridge the gap between existing theories and the empirical findings on age-related changes.

中文翻译：

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衰老中的亚稳态

健康老龄化期间的大脑结构逐渐退化，但仍保持高水平的认知能力。这些结构变化通常伴随着功能性大脑网络的重组。现有的衰老神经认知理论认为，这种变化要么是有益的，要么是有害的。尽管进行了大量实证研究，但该领域缺乏对我们一生中发生的动态过程的连贯描述。利用全脑计算建模方法的最新发展，我们假设衰老的持续过程可以用亚稳态的概念来解释，亚稳态是一个理论框架，可以系统地解释大脑的可变性。这一假设可以弥合现有理论与年龄相关变化的实证结果之间的差距。