It was once thought that cognitive decline was just a result of getting older and not much could be done to stop this process. But we now know the brain has the ability to change throughout life even as we get older. This is called brain plasticity. There is emerging evidence that brain plasticity is a key factor contributing to the positive effects of cognitive training in older adults.
Research has shown that memory improves with training for both young and older adults. However, in older adults, memory training also had a positive effect on white matter in the brain (the parts of the brain that help with learning and brain function) (Glaso de Lange, 2017). Typically white matter tends to break down over time, which is why cognitive decline is part of the natural aging process. Therefore, this is very promising research suggesting that cognitive training in older adults can slow down or possibly stop the age-related loss of white matter in the brain.
This positive effect on white matter was not observed in the young adults. So why did the memory training only have a positive effect on white matter in the older adults? In a theoretical framework suggested by Lovden and colleagues (2010), changes in the brain (plasticity) occur when the demands on the brain exceed its functional capacity. It is thought that in the older adults, the training surpassed the functional capacity of the brain and as a result, the brain was able to change to accommodate the training resulting in a positive effect on memory.