Brain activity and communications are complex phenomena that dynamically unfold over time. However, in contrast with the large number of studies reporting neuroanatomical differences in activation relative to young adults, changes of temporal dynamics of neural activity during normal and pathological aging have been grossly understudied and are still poorly known. Here, we synthesize the current state of knowledge from MEG and EEG studies that aimed at specifying the effects of healthy and pathological aging on local and network dynamics, and discuss the clinical and theoretical implications of these findings. We argue that considering the temporal dynamics of brain activations and networks could provide a better understanding of changes associated with healthy aging, and the progression of neurodegenerative disease. Recent research has also begun to shed light on the association of these dynamics with other imaging modalities and with individual differences in cognitive performance. These insights hold great potential for driving new theoretical frameworks and development of biomarkers to aid in identifying and treating age-related cognitive changes.

大脑活动和交流是随着时间动态展开的复杂现象。然而，与大量研究报告激活相对于年轻人的神经解剖学差异相比，正常和病理性衰老期间神经活动的时间动态变化已被严重研究并且仍然知之甚少。在这里，我们综合了 MEG 和 EEG 研究的当前知识状态，这些研究旨在说明健康和病理衰老对局部和网络动态的影响，并讨论这些发现的临床和理论意义。我们认为，考虑大脑激活和网络的时间动态可以更好地理解与健康衰老相关的变化以及神经退行性疾病的进展。最近的研究也开始阐明这些动态与其他成像方式以及认知表现的个体差异之间的关联。这些见解对于推动新的理论框架和生物标志物的开发具有巨大的潜力，以帮助识别和治疗与年龄相关的认知变化。